Flames and Foxtails
by emeraldtryst
Summary: Based on content from the Monster Girl Encyclopedia, this is a direct sequel to Corpse and Coin. Joseph struggles with the loss of his memory as the world itself seems to set itself against him and his few companions, eventually revealing the cause of all of his misfortune.
1. Chapter 1

_**This is a DIRECT sequel to my previous story. While there is nothing stopping you from reading this without having read the other one, at some point it will probably get rather confusing._

 _With that out of the way...let's roll on!**_

Chapter 1 - Who was I, now?

My mind was clear in the way that mud isn't. The ass-kicking gauntlet of a situation before me brought to mind a trek through brambles, possibly made of fire, wearing underwear also made of brambles and a device built to dispense lemon juice when it detected brambles touching skin.

With an already-growling tummy, my ass in a patch of something that was probably as poisonous as it was itchy, and a decided lack of any possessions beyond the contents of my increasingly irritated skin...I was brutally torn between the urge to address any of those concerns or to simply stay down as fate most likely expected.

I had no idea what exactly had happened to land me in this-Is that poison ivy? Regardless...all I knew was that I'd made a very weighty decision and that at least one result of that decision found me here, cursing at once myself and the vengeful being that saw fit to test me so.

Thinking back a bit, I went over the interaction with the witch as I let the potential enormity of my next choice hold me down as surely as tightly coiling chains.

-

"That should do it. Happy now?" I heard the familiar, upbeat, and certainly feminine voice ask me.

Looking up at the figure above me, I saw long blonde hair woven into twin braids and further tamed by a wide-brimmed hat, sparkling blue eyes set within a childish, too-knowing face, and some revealing robes to complete her still-too-young-to-even-be-jailbait ensemble.

"Do I look...wait-do I know you?" I asked, already settling upon the answer before she offered it.

"Not anymore. My name is Miranda and some day in the future, you're going to seek me out for answers. This wasn't some sort of hack job, so I've made certain you'll remember _just_ enough to get yourself into some trouble. I've taken all of those nasty unwanted memories, just as you asked, and I was even kind enough to leave the memory of you begging me to take them."

She was right. I had been desperate to forget something...or a lot of somethings. The greater part of me knew that choosing the path of disremembrance was the right decision. My damnable curiosity kept tugging at where my shirt tails might have been if I hadn't been naked in a constant nagging play to get me to question why I made that choice in the first place. Even if I knew it was the correct path to have chosen...Why did I feel so hollow?

"Wait, you're just going to leave me here? I don't even have any clothes!" I pleadingly shouted as I sat up.  
"If you wanted clothes, you should have asked for them," she said as she narrowed her eyes somewhat.  
"Then could I have some-"  
"No," she said dismissively, seeming to enjoy herself as she did so. "I'm not here to hold your hand, boy. What you've given me is a prize that _nearly_ makes us even for what you took from me. When the day comes that you want these memories back, and you will, do not arrive empty-handed or you can't even imagine the cost I will demand from you."

"What if I don't want my memories back?"  
"Ha! I'd think your children at the very least would-Ah, but I've said too much. How cruel of me."

"Children!? Wait, wait."  
"That'll be my cue to leave. As an honest courtesy, I would advise staying far away from Alnor. There are two-well...possibly three _very_ cruel monsters living there that would likely stop at nothing to make you their eternal plaything. Now...I have to wonder-would that just make you more curious? Oh, this is just going to be a treat for the eyes and soul either way!"

Getting to my feet, I looked around at the dense greenery before responding, "I feel like I should be angry with you and I'm getting the feeling that you're just fucking with me...but you did what I asked so I guess I'll just have to trust you on Alnor. I mean, you haven't thrown me to the ground to have your way with-"

"Oh! I knew I was forgetting something. I can be rather silly, no?"

The look on her face told me she wasn't just making a bad joke, and the light starting to gleam around the head of her staff proclaimed that she likely had the ability to make good on her implied threat.

I took in the rest of the scene spread before me and saw a few trees standing tall in this otherwise sea of bamboo forest that spread out from me to either side and behind me as far as my eyes could see.

Ahead of me, just beyond the small robed figure, was the edge of some canyon or gorge. Even without looking, the very distant sound of the river below convinced me that the drop was substantial. If the grade wasn't too steep, I could risk my skin and attempt to slide down, but the thought that I'd be risking _all_ of my skin on such a gamble was enough to kill that idea entirely.

"Uh...look, you're cute and all, but I'm not some kind of whore," I attempted, stalling for time as I looked around nervously.

This was apparently among the most hilarious things Miranda had ever heard as her tiny giggles grew and flourished into a heady laughter that was starting to get contagious. A tiny apprehensive smile broke its way through to the corners of my mouth, despite my worries, as I considered the potential position in which I found myself.

"Oh no…certainly not some _kind_ of whore. And did you seriously think I was going to pay you?" she forced out between shuddering laughter.  
"Ha ha...yeah…" I attempted feebly as I looked over my shoulder, seeing little beyond more foliage.

Wiping a few wayward tears from her eyes, she let loose a long sigh before speaking again, "I haven't laughed like that in ages. Damn it, now I'm not even in the mood so...well played, boy. We'll see each other again soon enough."

With that, the petite witch vanished in a powerful burst of light that easily threw me back onto the ground, leaving me alone save for the embrace of this unknown wilderness that seemed to spread from me in every direction.

-

For all my mental bitching, the choice I had to make wasn't really all that difficult. My options were to stay on the ground until someone stumbled by to claim or eat me (perhaps a fusion of those two), or to get up and get back to living.

It sounded silly to let that thought process bear fruit. Hadn't I decided that I was done giving up on life?

Or had I? Damn it. That Miranda was a lying bitch-either her memory removal truly _was_ a hack job or...I didn't want to consider the alternative as it cast aspersions on the choice to burn from my mind something that was very large and _very_ connected.

Was it something that I had done? Maybe people that I knew…? She mentioned children but she couldn't mean-

"Fuck!" I shouted to break my own reverie, adding, "If there is one person's judgement I should trust, it's damn well going to be my own."

Cracking my knuckles and stretching a bit, I figured I needed clothes, shelter, and some food. A loud growling from my stomach prompted me to mentally add: "Not necessarily in that order."

Following the lip of the canyon before me, I figured I'd be more likely to find some kind of civilization if I stuck close to the river below. As I ventured a glance over the side, I was glad I hadn't tried to slide my way down, as the sheer drop of at least a hundred meters would have seen me with a _bit_ more about which to complain than some raw skin-in the unlikely event that I survived at all.

For at least an hour, I continued in that way until I heard the sound of singing somewhere ahead of me. That seemed like as good a direction as any. Music soothes the savage beast so it was unlikely that a savage beast would be singing; that carried, right?

I began the stealthiest approach I could manage in the hopes that who-or whatever was singing would be more interested in helping me find clothes than in making sure I stayed out of them.

Satisfied that I had succeeded on my stealth roll, I came upon a scene of such profound beauty that it kicked the breath from me, forcing me to wrap myself around the bole of the nearest towering giant bamboo tree to take in the sight. Perhaps as a gift from some unseen force, a strong breeze saw fit to mask that momentary lapse of control.

Kissed by the passing breath of that wind, the small bamboo leaves of the canopy above set free their musically soothing hiss at the breeze's touch as their fallen leafy brethren tossed and rolled in their own dance below.

Breaking the line of the forest's advance in a nearly perfect circle was the clearing that sat before me. Nestled at its center was a placid pond, the water so clear that its dark bottom appeared as a shaded iris in this eye of the forest itself, the short grasses that made up the distance between the distinct realms of wood and water looking to me like a paler ocular sclera.

And somehow, as expected, the gentle singing resonated from the beautifully inhuman, and inhumanly beautiful pupil of this extemporaneous eye.

With long tresses of ebony hair fanned out behind her in the water like the backdrop of a portrait, a complexion so flawlessly pale as to be nearly pearlescent, and a perfectly proportioned figure that defied any term short of "generous", it took me several breaths to realize that this scene was likely not meant for my eyes to see.

Maybe it should have been obvious that her strange horns, scaled arms and talons, and snake-like lower half meant that I was about to have a non-standard encounter. That thought was further reinforced when my daze caused me to lose my grip on the overgrown plant to which I held, sending me to faceplant into the clearing with a decided lack of any grace.

Hearing the disturbance, the singer immediately stopped her song and shot bolt upright to stare daggers at this unseemly intruder that had disturbed her.

Jumping into damage control mode, I quickly began to try muttering an apology, perhaps hoping that my obvious lack of malicious intent might salvage this fateful encounter.

"Uh...sorry! I was lost and I heard your singing so I thought-"

With her gaze projecting enough force to silence me, her mood turning somehow more angry, and her skin reddening as she made no attempt to cover herself, she simply made a gesture in my direction. Expecting some sort of weapon or magical assault to issue forth made it all the more baffling when I was grabbed from behind, my eyes quickly covered as I was dragged a short way from the clearing.

"Oh dear, oh dear...you've broken the laws of the vale of silence and upset the Honored Mistress Tsukiko. Whatever shall we do with you?" a soft feminine voice intoned, seeming to crawl its way into my ear.

Perhaps the thought of crawling was borne by the realization that I was being held by no less than six chitinous arms.

Thankfully, given my utterly helpless position, the voice seemed to be genuinely asking the question rather than rhetorically stalling for time as a suitable torment was devised.

"Look, I don't know where I am, how I got here...exactly, or uh...anything about your glade of silence. I was only staring at your mistress because I was going to wait until she was done singing so I could ask her where the nearest town was...or some clothes, or-"

"The mistress will be further displeased at the additional stain you have thrown upon her honor by admitting to such brazen indiscretion as staring at her naked body," the voice continued to whisper.

If there was anything playful in her tone, I wasn't picking it up. She hadn't already killed me, so I was pretty sure that was a bonus. Of course she could have just been holding me still until her mistress could come handle it. With my thoughts still rattling around like marbles in a toy chest that'd been thrown down a hill, I decided to go for the desperate honesty play.

"Really, I'm sorry. I didn't know about your vale, or your mistress, or whatever the hell other rules I've probably broken. Tell your mistress that I didn't have a choice in apparel, so I'm not going to apologize for being naked, or for trying to be polite by waiting for her to finish singing, or for staring at a hot woman. Those are all...uh...victimless crimes."

The slackening grip upon me left out crucial details in what I needed to know about what was about to happen. What might have been an attempt at an indignant slap in the face from a dainty hand was instead delivered like a bell-ringing haymaker as the large, scaled claw extended a fond greeting to the left side of my face.

In a full and resounding feminine voice, the lady Tsukiko spoke, "His words are nearly as offensive as his presence. Put some clothes on him and we will take him to the village to answer for his crimes."

What an amazing way to start a day.


	2. Chapter 2 - At Least I'm Dressed

Chapter 2 - At Least I'm Dressed

Suffering through the indignity of being forcibly dressed by my new captor, the blindfold with which I'd been fitted was finally removed to reveal a pair of slightly distressed eyes staring intently at my face. I failed to pretend I didn't notice the large spider legs and abdomen that dominated this woman's lower half and tried to wrench my attention instead to the pleasing face and dark brown, almond-shaped eyes that now regarded me.

Still speaking in a whisper, convincing me that it was simply her conversational voice, the spider woman ran her fingers gently down the side of my face as she spoke, "The lady has gone ahead so I have removed your blindfold. I have spoken to the lady and, while she would not admit it to you, you have presented us with a potential solution to a small problem that has been bothering our village."

Where the hell was this coming from? Did my initial lack of clothing identify me as an adventurer looking for a plot hook?

"Uh...so does that mean I won't have to answer for my 'crimes'?" I asked, probably putting undue emphasis on the last word.

Not seeming to notice, she continued, "Bandits have been accosting travelers on this road for many months, and the lady will overlook your transgressions if you will assist in their capture."

"Let me just stop you there. I don't know what you think I can do, but I'm no fighter. I wouldn't know the first thing about dealing with bandits except to avoid them or run, possibly with no small involvement of tears," I protested as the thought of being an angry bandit's literal booty flashed to the front of my mind.

Not breaking her gentle stare, she retorted, "These scars on your face tell a different story, but it matters little as you would not be expected to fight them. This wagon contains many fine articles and it would be very likely to be intercepted if you were to lead it down the road. If you do not struggle, you will simply be captured and then the lady can use her substantial powers to locate you later."

Being bait didn't sound _too_ bad if the rescue ever actually came, and at least she wasn't sugarcoating my role in this. I still had some very serious doubts about being trusted to handle such a task by people I didn't know...especially when it seemed they already didn't like me but if I had broken some serious laws, I didn't have a lot of other options.

And when did I get scars on my face?

"Why would you trust me with something like this? What if I just ran away?" I asked.  
"Is that what you intend to do?" she replied, cocking her head curiously.  
"Well...what sort of punishment would be waiting for me if I turned this offer down?"  
"I cannot say. Such things are...unspeakable," she offered, her serious look never wavering.

The fact that she was whispering made everything she said seem at least a little questionable.

"Fine...it's not like I have anywhere else to be. Your lady seemed pretty pissed too, so I guess it couldn't hurt to smooth things over a bit," I said with a sigh of resignation.  
Nodding, she replied, "This will solve more problems than you know. Though I doubt you will need it, I have given you a gold piece to pay the bridge toll if you are forced to travel that far. You need only lead the horse down this road. I thank you for providing this service."

"Her 'lady' better be thanking me too," I thought to myself as I tried to put this all together in my head.

It seemed obvious that this had already been planned out, but then...were they planning to run in to me, or was there supposed to be someone else here to act as the cheese in this mouse trap? Neither thought filled me with any confidence on how this was actually going to play out, and imagining this all as simple coincidence was stretching belief to the shattering point.

"I didn't even catch your name," I said, almost as an afterthought as she turned to leave.  
"While it is polite to introduce yourself before asking the name of another, I am known as Kumori," she replied in an even tone.  
"Oh, uh...sorry. I'm Joseph."

"I see. Well then, I hope that our next meeting is under more pleasurable circumstances, Joseph," she finished in a whisper as she handed me the reins, adding, "Remember what I told you and this task should present no problems."

With a polite bow she skittered off down the road at an extremely rapid pace, the horse starting momentarily from the shock as the spider vanished into the distance.

The only things about this "plan" that didn't stink to high heavens were the two women that lead to me being a part of it. With the snake-like of the two smelling like some kind of lotus blossoms and the spider smelling like jasmine, it was nearly enough to mask the distinct odor of the knee-high shit.

Determined to at least know what I was hauling, I hopped into the back of the small wagon once the spider was out of sight completely. Rifling through the items held within revealed several sets of very fine clothing-each of them appearing as different-colored versions of what I was now wearing in this silky, black, frog-buttoned jacket and matching pants. I also found a handful of well-crafted weapons and a few scrolls with ink that looked to have been very recently put to this parchment.

Slowly and painfully rolling down the stairs to what was to be a very disheartening understanding, I found that the scrolls contained maps, of the nearby town I assumed, and a list of times and places that looked like they might be guard rotations.

"No," I pondered out loud as I looked again at the weapons, "This may as well be a present for these bandits."

There was no way that a "fake" shipment that was intended to be intercepted would have had weapons on board, to say nothing of the potential attack plans. The clothing also had me worried about other men that had fallen for such a trap, or of the possibility that they were all intended as an additional gift to let these bandits play dress-up with their new man-toy.

Closing the last scroll as I made the decision to run as far and as fast as I could in the other direction, I looked up to see an unfamiliar figure in the driver's seat of the wagon. With the prodigious size of her blue-skinned body making me wonder how I could have possibly missed her approach in the first place, I reached to pull one of the slender swords free from the nearby bundle on the floor of the wagon.

Despite having trained with a katana not unlike the one I was now holding, I felt (and probably looked) like a child brandishing a stick against a mountain.

"Who are you?" I asked in a cautiously quiet tone.  
Turning to me, she shook her horned head before responding, "You're serious? That looks like too much blade for you to handle, friend."  
"Just try me...I've used one of these before and I'm pretty damn sure I have nothing to lose," I answered defiantly, pointing the blade in her direction as she looked me up and down.  
Looking past me for a moment, she spoke again, "He sure _sounds_ confident enough...what do you think boss?"

Falling for the third-oldest trick in the book, I quickly turned to look behind me. With my eyes off of the large woman, I felt one blue hand pull the weapon from my grasp by the blade and then the gentle but irresistible weight of her other hand pushing me to a seated position. I might have cursed myself for falling for such an obvious trick if I hadn't seen two other women staring up at me from the road.

"Well," my pride proclaimed to the rest of me, "At least I wasn't tricked into looking at someone that wasn't there."

Of the two women now also standing next to the wagon, the shorter of the two looked like a child. With pointed, elf-like ears, a pair of simple horns extending skyward from the sides of her head, and a compact frame that was wielding an impossibly large, crude iron slab as a weapon, this was certainly no human child. As we locked eyes a moment, she gave me a curious smile and a wink that inexplicably caused my stomach to turn anxiously.

Examining the other assailant as I was pushed onto my ass, I saw a set of bright, silvery-steel eyes set in a dark bronze complexion. Her lustrous sable hair was tied back in a slapdash ponytail that kept the long, dark locks from hiding her slender, yet exquisitely muscled shoulders and arms that ran human until just past the elbow, at which point her monstrous lineage became evident in the bright red scales and claw-like hands that made up the rest of her arms.

As she jumped into the wagon next to me, I saw a similar scaly situation starting just below the knee and leading to a set of wide lizard-like feet. Completing the set was a tail of the same crimson scales.

The feature that grabbed my gaze and threatened to never let it go, however, was her perfectly formed lips. In contrast to her scales, her full lips were colored with the radiance of the setting sun as it set fire to the horizon.

I wasn't a hundred percent certain on the large blue girl, but the other two were distinctive enough to my damaged memory to be identified as a goblin and a salamander. The only thing that struck me as odd, aside from being completely surprised by three monsters at once, was that the salamander's tail seemed to be almost extinguished, barely glowing with a very weak flame.

Breaking my stunned silence, the salamander's voice rolled forth with a depth and richness that seemed to heighten its still-feminine nature as she spoke, "It's not worth seeing if he can swing it if he can't even hold on to it. Let's go, Liuli...we don't want to be out here in the open."

Damn! I just couldn't stop looking at them. As those seductive lips split from their natural pout to speak, her words reached in and stole every breath I could have used to respond.

"On it, boss," the blue-skinned woman said as she led the horse off the left side of the road onto an upward-sloping path.

With the road vanishing into the distance along with any chance I might have had to make a successful run for it, my eyes took in a deep breath of the passing scenery in an attempt to see some way through this new wrinkle. Being almost completely mesmerized by the salamander was making it hard to see anything else.

It seemed I wouldn't be coming close to an answer to this dilemma any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3 - Foxy Lady

Chapter 3 - Foxy Lady

This whole situation was starting to feel so surreal. Either these weren't the bandits that had been attacking the road, the bandits that had been attacking the road weren't all that bad, or I was still suffering from magical aftershocks as a result of my recent memory rape. I was really hoping they weren't just finding a perfect location for a rape/murder combo.

I supposed it was time to make the best of a bad situation or dig myself deeper. One of those two things was definitely going to happen. Shovel in hand, it seemed addressing the dusky beauty of the salamander would be the most convenient as she wasn't driving the wagon or shooting me cryptic "knowing" glances like the unflappable goblin girl.

Getting a chance to see those lips work to form words also seemed like a win.

"So...uh, where are you taking me?" I asked out of a morbid curiosity.  
"Away from here-there. Away from where you were when we found you," the scaled woman said as she produced a kiseru-looking pipe which she lit with tiny flames of her tail.  
"Then that makes you the bandits that have been attacking the road?" I asked earnestly, convinced that watching her put anything in her mouth was an action conceived as divine prank to taunt me.

Taking a long pull from her pipe, she leaned back and crossed her legs as she angled a neutral gaze in my direction, releasing a trail of coiling smoke as she replied, "We aren't bandits-we're mercenaries. Fancy Miss Crawly Whisper has been paying us to keep undesirable folk away from from her...uh...town."

"Well, I did stumble naked into some sort of holy ritual and upset that horned snake woman," I recollected, adding, "but she got in touch with you guys _really_ fast…"

"Not that I care all that much, but that wasn't a snake, it was a Ryu. Also, she's only fifteen...so I wouldn't say 'woman' either," the salamander corrected.  
"Bullshit, she was stacked like a-er…she seemed more developed than any teenager I've ever seen," I countered.  
"One of _those_ , huh? You stare at a lot of girls that age?" the dark woman asked with a look of growing doubt in my direction.

Something about her angle was difficult to get around so I jumped for the reset button.

"Uh no. No, not at all, really. A-anyway, my name's Joseph and in case you thought I just _enjoyed_ walking around naked, I hadn't been here long and I just...didn't have any clothes."

"I'm Azalea, short stuff here is Fizzli, and the blueberry Oni up there is Liuli," the salamander said with a wave of her arm towards her two companions.

"Hey!" the two of them shouted in tandem, drawing a chuckle from Azalea.

"It's nice to meet the three of you, I suppose," I attempted politely, not entirely certain I'd even survive this extended encounter.  
"Anyway, in answer to the question you were probably trying to ask in that mess, we weren't here to get you but some youko that's been upsetting the sheltered folks of the nearby village," Azalea said, shrugging her shoulders as she stared up at the sky.  
"So you were supposed to kill her but I get to be the target instead?" I asked as my tone fell.

The two companions remained silent as their leader continued to draw on her pipe periodically before extinguishing it in her palm several silent minutes later, dropping the ashes onto the slowly passing ground.

"Are you afraid to die?" Azalea asked suddenly as she leaned forward and looked at me with a renewed interest.  
"Hell, I don't know. Probably? I don't even know who I am anymore," I mumbled as I looked back into the massive holes in my memory.

"That's got to be the most half-assed answer I've ever heard. So what's wrong with you?" Azalea asked, clearly unimpressed.  
"If you're just going to kill me, I'd rather not waste the breath. It'll probably just upset me anyway," I said as I closed my eyes.

"Wow, you are just a barrel of laughs. We never had any plans to kill you, even though that's probably what our employer wanted us to do. If you don't want to talk about it, though, I'm not going to twist your arm. I just figured it was as good a way as any to pass the time since you're not really the sort of person we're normally sent out here to 'remove'."

I couldn't imagine that I'd feel any worse talking about it, and despite my now-forced attempt to remain emotionally uninvolved in this conversation, I was more happy than I expected to hear that they didn't plan to kill me.

"To hell with it. Don't come crying to me later if it sounds completely insane," I said as I gave a small stretch and leaned forward towards the salamander with a slightly growing confidence.

Forced to wrench my gaze away from those lips, a more dedicated observation of her presented me with a strange dichotomy between the muted warmth of someone that seemed genuinely curious about me and the coiled springs of her taut, lean muscles ready to leap into battle at a moment's notice.

With a half smile, she propped her chin up on her hand and replied, "Alright. Whatever you feel like saying."  
Taking a full breath in the futile hope of getting it all out in one blast, I began, "I guess I'll start by saying I've been here a while-this island, that is. The problem is that I don't know where I've been or what I've done. I know it isn't some normal amnesia or anything either. My memories were taken, and all I know is that I wanted them gone but I don't remember why."

"How much do you remember?" she asked, seeming even more interested now.

"Some of my begging the witch to do it and-err...not a whole lot else that I'm proud of," I began in a measured response, "I know I got here after I tried to kill myself, and I know that at some point I didn't want to do that anymore. I have a few flashes of places-Alnor and some place deep underground-but how I got there, or with whom, or why I was in those places to begin with…it's all a blank."

Trying to talk about it just highlighted how little I really knew. As I worried over being driven to melancholy over my lack of a memory, Azalea continued to look on with a very thoughtful stare.

"Taken, huh? So who has these supposed memories?" she asked, continuing to lean towards me.  
"Some witch named Miranda. She said that eventually I'd want them back and she'd make me pay an exorbitant price to get them and then...mentioned something about my children. Damn it," I mumbled as I looked away.

Bringing me to a sudden mental stop, the curious lizard girl simply smiled as she responded, "That _might_ be pretty bad if you can believe it's true."

I tried to protest, "But what about-"

"Hear me out," she interrupted as I simply nodded, curious to hear what she had to offer. As she scooted herself close enough to lay her scaled hand on my foot in a reassuring gesture, she began again, "I usually like to believe that people are good overall, but maybe she was lying. If she could really take memories, couldn't she just as easily create some fake or incomplete ones? What sounds more likely-that you decided to _forget_ that you maybe went on some fantastical adventure, settled down, and had _kids_...or that this Miranda just wanted you to _think_ that she has all the answers that are bugging you so you'd agree to bone her silly for a few decades?"

Based on what I knew about her, or didn't know in this case, it was impossible to say if Miranda would have done something like that. It did make more sense than the requested amnesia alternative. If that had been the case though, couldn't she have just taken me with her? Was I really going to feel like I'd been rejected because I _hadn't_ been claimed by her child's body?

The thought was at least enough to stop me from trying to stare with a worn-down, cynical eye upon a path I may or may not have travelled so that I could try to focus on what might be over that next rise. My curiosity would demand no less.

The smart money was still on sexual assault.

"Huh," I began before adding, "Damn, I needed that," with a slowly growing smile.  
"You're actually not bad to look at when you show some teeth and you're looking somewhere other than your feet," Azalea said as she leaned back against the side of the wagon again, still a bit closer to me than she was before.

"Uh...thanks Azalea," I mumbled sheepishly.  
"Lords! Call me Az, or-"  
"How about Zee?" I ventured, the thought coming to me more quickly than I expected.

She scratched her chin a moment before smiling with a nod, "Zee? Doesn't get much simpler than that-just the way I like it." she then made an overdramatic stretch as she leaned closer to the goblin and cursed, "Shit shit shit! Is she still following us?"  
"She never stopped. Probably waiting for the sun to go down so she won't have to look at all the icky blood," Fizzli said as she adjusted her large iron weapon to rest straight across her small shoulders.

"Why this one? Damn it. Well, Joseph...looks like we've got some bad news and some...uh...other news," Zee said as her expression hardened somewhat.  
"What's the bad news?" I asked as I tried to make out who or what might be following us.  
"You are really damn cute," she answered immediately.  
"How is that bad news?" I wondered aloud as I saw the mercenary's eyes quickly tracking something unseen behind us.

"Because it means the princess must have really liked you," she quickly answered.  
"Then, uh...what's the other news?" I queried hopefully.

"You ever hear that human saying about if you and your friend ever find yourselves being chased by a grizzly?" she asked as she moved into a ready crouch.  
"I'm _really_ hoping it's different than the one I know," I spit out hesitantly, adding, "And couldn't you take down a bear?"

Standing tall in the wagon while calmly maintaining her balance, she looked off to the horizon. In the dazzling embrace of the sun's last hold on the day, Zee solemnly spoke, her voice dropping forth as little more than a cracked whisper, "I don't fight unless I'm paid, Joseph...ever. So, as shitty as this is, it looks like this is where we'll be parting ways."

"Wait! You're seriously throwing me out here after you _made_ me come with you?!" I shouted.  
"Don't say it like that. The other news is that we're setting you free. I thought we had a moment there, and I think I'd like to have a lot more, but this is...something else. If you don't die, I promise I'll make it up to you some day," she said as she unceremoniously tossed me from the wagon as the horse began to pick up speed.

Standing and making a few token strides after the quickly vanishing wagon and my now ex-captors, I screamed after them, "Fuck all of you!"

I saw Azalea sit back down as she gave her goblin friend a nod, after which I saw a glint of metal as it streaked by me, embedding itself into the ground less than an arms-length from me. Staring back at me was the razor edge of the katana that had so easily been taken from my hands earlier.

As I angrily moved to pull it from the ground, I heard a soft echoing laughter from the shadows of this endless bamboo forest before my hand could touch the well-wrapped grip.

While still a whisper, I nevertheless heard the words as clearly as if they'd been shouted into my ear as they taunted me, "Grab the weapon if you like. I could use some amusement to distract me from the disappointment in the job done by those mercenaries."

Damn it. I could tell right away that it was that spider woman from earlier. Now all those scrolls made sense...or so I thought. Whatever was on them must have made me a security risk to the village so they had no choice but to kill me. If Zee was being honest, that also suggested that the young Ryu was probably unaware of this little encounter. Was I really just so unlucky to have been at the absolute wrong place at precisely the wrong time?

Looking to my right, I saw the seemingly endless edge of this massive canyon we'd been following. In the last of the sparkling twilight, I could see the river below, now so distant that the sound was impossible to hear.

I took a breath to yell into the quickly darkening forest, perhaps for help or as an attempt at arrogant bluster, when most of my face was covered with an iron-hard coating of webbing. Horror quickly dawned on me as I realized that it had completely sealed my airways.

Gliding up beside me as I struggled in vain to pull the webs from my face, I saw the polite spider woman as she regarded me with a growing sadistic interest. The serene smile from earlier was replaced with a sickening, grinning sneer.

"I don't know if you understand the scandal our village would have to endure if the young mistress were to see you again. The Honored Lady Tsukiko might even go so far as to disregard that there are four men that have gone through ritual preparation their entire lives in preparation to be her potential mate. That she has wasted any further thoughts on your filthy person is simply unacceptable. The honorable thing for you to do would be to die here, dreaming of your next breath that will never come."

My attention was more than a bit torn, her words barely registering as I continued to fight for my life against my own need to breathe...one of the cruelest things I could imagine. Being utterly unable to exhale the painfully burning air from my lungs, I fell to my knees as my vision clouded with tears of supreme exertion as I tore in vain at my own covered face.

"Are you nearly done struggling already?" She whispered with a haughty joy in her voice that seemed to be turning into one of sexual satisfaction, "once you have fallen unconscious, I am going to savor your delicious body in the precious moments before your body cools," she finished as leaned in and revealed a fanged maw as she licked the side of my face.

I wasn't quite sure what pissed me off more-that I was going to die so soon after stepping out of my doldrums, that I'd been tossed to the wolves by the very person that had cheered me up, or that this bitch was going to taunt me all the way to the afterlife.

It wasn't lost on me that anger was the primary emotion that was running through me. Stepping outside of myself to see this hopeless struggle, that thought just made me feel more pitiful.

Was there nothing I could do? Really?

As the edges of my sight began to waver and a cloud of grey started to descend over my vision, I saw something...unlikely. 'Impossible' would have made more sense, but then, there it was-happening right in front of me. Sure, there _was_ a nonzero chance of this possibility having come to pass, but considering the math was making my head hurt. You know...more than it already was.

The pitch changing so quickly from her advance as to be a perfect demonstration of the Doppler Effect, another voice screamed out, "Twelvefold Stone-Breaking Upside-Down Sinner's Blossoming Foxy Kick!"

My eardrums had damn near ruptured in my desperate struggle to release the air trapped in my lungs and tears greatly obscured what I could see, but I was vaguely aware of a quiet shout of alarm before I saw the spider Kumori violently taking off on a horizontal trajectory towards the open air above the deep canyon.

The moments that followed saw my lungs tasting some of the sweetest air I could hope to imagine as my fall forward and subsequent crawling allowed me to draw the exposed katana's razor edge across my face, the metal luckily winning the day as the seal of my gag was broken. The small amount of blood that escaped from the thin cuts that also now marked me felt like a blessed reminder that I was alive in light of the ordeal I felt I'd just escaped.

I quickly and painfully tore the remainder of the sticky webbing from my face as I continued to gasp for air, looking up at the back of my savior as she stood facing the deep crevasse, a bright fox tail swishing about merrily behind her.

Maybe it was the borderline hyperventilation I was experiencing as my lungs continued to desperately suck down the sweet breath of freedom, but as far as I was concerned, _this_ woman was about to get a blank check from me for whatever she wanted after what she'd just done. What do you really offer someone in payment for saving your life?

With her hands formed into fists and planted firmly on her hips, her heroic posturing was actually thick enough to taste as she carried on with a monologue of some kind. It seemed to trail on for at least a few seconds, and I didn't hear the first part of it through my coughing, but as I started to become aware that she was still speaking, I focused enough to catch the last part.

Slowly turning towards me, I heard her voice as it continued to proclaim, "...feet of Justice! So how about you reward your savior with some of your nice hard co-eep!"

Just as she had turned to face me completely, I saw her yanked backwards toward the deep ravine as her arms flailed madly to grasp for something to stop her backwards slide. It would have been (more) hilarious if the fall wasn't so likely to kill her.

Having recovered enough to realize she was going over without assistance and still worried that the spider could just climb her way back up, I made a diving grab for the tall, slender girl's arms just before she slid into oblivion. Looking down into the vertigo-inducing canyon, I saw that the spider had managed to stick a thick strand of her web to the back of the fox girl's silken garb.

As I held her two arms just above the elbow, I was being quickly made aware that my strength was not going to last long. Her own arms tightly grasped mine, making the additional weight of the spider enough to convince me that having my arms torn from their sockets was a very real possibility.

"Hold on, I'll try to pull you up!" I yelled through my exertion.

Taking a look down into the eyes of my rescuer, she looked back up at me with a visage projecting sheer terror in the moment before her expression changed to register a flash of recognition that forced her to pause for several heartbeats.

"Joe?"

The shock that she knew my name lasted only a moment before the next events crushed that mild bit of surprise underfoot. Something had to give and I was only slightly relieved that it was not my arms.

With the sound that expensive clothes make when they are torn (I'd guess), the fox-girl's top was ripped from her in the blink of an eye, disappearing into the deepening gloom of the canyon below. That would have been the perfect opportunity to pull her up if she hadn't decided to let go of my left arm to cover her chest.

"What are you doing?! I...I can't hold on!" I shouted.  
"What are YOU doing?!" she screamed back in protest.

My strength already on the cusp of failing before that exciting twist, I lost my grip entirely on her as her fingernails dug into the silk of the clothes I'd been given earlier. My next sensation was of my _own_ thin silken jacket being ripped off of me, followed by the slow motion sight of the fox girl's descent, her face still inexplicably blushing as she tried to keep herself covered...even as she fell to her likely doom.

It was difficult to even imagine that I had failed so completely as I nervously laughed at the absurdity.

"Sorry!" I yelled below, ashamed and embarrassed that I'd been unable to keep my rescuer from falling, the feelings exacerbated by finding myself halfway back down the road to naked with only a now-dirty pair of pants as my only article of clothing.

My pitiful apology, this whole scene, and everything that had happened today simply felt so unreal that I just felt numb. Two-thirds of the people I'd met today had tried to kill me-either outright or by making themselves into bystanders. The theory that my amnesia was a fabrication was falling apart before me. I had to wonder how in the hell I could have survived this world long enough to settle down before. But then...how did she know my name?

"At least there isn't enough time left in this day for things to get any worse," I mumbled to the chilling night air.


	4. Chapter 4 - Hunger is the Best Spice

Chapter 4 - Hunger is the Best Spice

Numbed beyond reason after what I'd just gone through, I decided to take stock of what I had at hand in an attempt to ground myself back in a reality that seemed determined to float away.

Bamboo, check.  
Lingering sense of betrayal, check.  
Now-filthy pair of silky pants, check.  
Razor-sharp katana that I had no intention of swinging at another living thing, check.  
Two handfuls of my own shivering body, check.  
Single gold piece, che-shit...oh, there it is. Check.

So far, so good.

With such an embarrassment of riches, it just didn't seem fair to keep it all to myself. If only I'd had some idea of where to begin spreading my good fortune, it would have at least been something. Thinking had become not unlike cutting myself, however, as I pondered to what degree I was really fucked.

Huddling into a fetal position on a hastily jury-rigged bed of smaller bamboo stalks as I continued to shake in the less-than-tepid night air, I tried to clear my head.

I could have handled the near smothering and the outright double-cross if I didn't also have to bear that fox girl's face being burned into my brain as she fell. As much as I wanted to blame myself, I knew that there simply wasn't anything more I could have done. Figuring that the only reason I wasn't completely traumatized was the belief in the possibility that she'd actually survived the fall (maybe by landing on that spider), I hoped I'd at least get a chance to thank her for saving my life.

And then the wonderful kicker that beat me over the head as I thought about her-she knew who I was the moment she saw my face. Putting the last nail in that coffin of doubt, it meant that I was definitely a man with a manufactured amnesia. It was saddening to see such a quick end to the pleasant fantasy that I was _only_ being fucked with…

After a few sleepless hours of increasingly famished shivering, I let hunger and fear win out over rest and began rummaging around the forest floor for any bamboo shoots that were still soft enough to eat. I seemed to recall something about problems from eating too much raw bamboo, and since I figured I'd rather be hungry than sick, I erred on the side of caution and elected to only eat enough to blunt the teeth of my hunger pangs.

Still chilled, exhausted, and ready to eat an entire horse, I set off into the nearly impermeable darkness in the direction that Zee and her friends had been taking me. I had half a mind to find the traitorous lizard and try to get an apology out of her, but I highly doubted that ill-conceived tree would bear any fruit. Being angry about it _did_ add a surprising amount of spring to my step, so I decided to hold on to that goal at least until a better one was presented.

Since I was following a road of sorts, I figured I could just continue until I found some civilization, hoping that I wasn't too hungry or delirious to act civilized once I finally did.

-  
-Some four hours and at least three forks in the road later…

I was reasonably certain that I was being followed, but I was unable to determine by whom or what. After starting to jog, I quickly realized that even the small amount of bamboo I'd eaten wasn't agreeing with me as a piercing cramp gripped my entire midsection and further sapped the fumes left in my meager tank.

Finally stumbling over a sizeable rise in the unfamiliar highlands, I finally saw lights in the valley below. Looking a bit closer I could see what looked like a moderately-sized village. As I breathed a relieved sigh through the cramps and dizziness that were laying a heavy toll upon me, I heard several loud snaps from the edge of the forest some five hundred-ish meters behind me.

With less than half that between me and this village, I didn't even hesitate and broke into a sprint towards the walled part of the village closest to me. Whatever was on me was closing quickly enough that I didn't even venture a look back as I grunted through the wracking pain that seemed to be spreading through my entire midsection. As my bare feet propelled me over the stinging blades of grass, accompanied by the further insult of the chilled dew that cloaked those cruel blades, I was coming up on a fairly rough-hewn wooden wall.

Not willing to lose my only means of protection and potential bartering item, I hurled the katana over the wall ahead of me before leaping myself, first to a support and then making a short climb before a final leap to get my hands over the top of the wall. With my pursuer close enough that I could have sworn I felt hot breath upon my neck, I ignored the splinters that dug into my hands and feet as I hauled myself to the top of the wall before throwing myself over it.

Only able to catch a glimpse of glowing red eyes behind me as I crossed the threshold into the village, I brought my gaze forward just in time to see gravity about to lay another cruel prank upon me as it carried me towards what was probably about to turn into an even more unfortunate situation.

Perhaps I should have been thankful to see the bubbling water of an apparent hot spring below me, and I certainly would have been glad for it to have broken my fall if it hadn't also been occupied by the same naked Ryu I'd seen before, her eyes curiously examining the blade that had landed next to her only a moment before.

At least it didn't seem like-no...I was definitely going to hit her. Fuck.

Giggling inwardly at the overly cushiony initial impact and resulting shriek of her surprise before I broke below the surface of the nearly scalding water, I contemplated feigning unconsciousness in an attempt to spare myself some of the potential embarrassment of having stumbled onto this girl naked, twice in one day.

Having nearly suffocated once already in the preceding few hours, however, I quashed that notion as I threw myself to the edge of the pool. I respectfully left my back towards the naked woman and simply slumped forward in an exhaustion born of a lack of sleep, a lack of food, and a crushing nausea.

I hoped that playing up my obvious exhaustion might help take the edge off of what was probably another insult. The tentative tap on my shoulder that followed started to convince me that the plan was working. As I turned slightly to look back, however, I saw her beautifully gentle features stained crimson and already twisting into a mask of rage.

"Shit, I'm sorr-" I managed to get out before she violently brought her large claw across my chin, accompanied by a very un-ladylike growl, knocking me into a sea of stars that swiftly turned to blackness.

Somewhere, in the deep parts of my mind that remained gripped by wakefulness, I was pretty sure I'd probably broken enough laws to guarantee that I'd never wake up from this unscheduled nap.

And so it was…

Survival Status: Fai-what? Seriously? Oh, goodie.

-

Drawn awake by a fit of coughing, I felt a warm, scaly claw reach down to stifle me as I was pulled into an embrace of sorts with another large claw gently rubbing at my back to help calm me.

Struggling to get my bearings, I opened my eyes to see the young Lady Tsukiko (clothed this time) before me in a room that was very reminiscent of what I knew of traditional Japanese stylings. Though I was sitting in an actual bed and much of the furniture called to mind other varying foreign influences, the rice paper entryway and tatami-covered floor suggested a traditional Eastern mindset in the design of this room.

"My lady! Is everything okay?" I heard a slightly muffled voice ask from outside the room.  
"There is no cause for concern," the draconic girl answered as she placed a single claw to my lips, the gesture demanding a silence I was more than happy to provide on my own.  
"Do not hesitate to call on me if you need anything, I shall be just down the hall," the unidentified voice answered, seemingly satisfied with the given answer.  
"I am not made of glass, Shina. I simply drank my tea too quickly," the Ryu answered with a note of finality as I heard light steps carrying the unfamiliar figure away.

Leaning back to me, she whispered in my ear, "You must drink the rest of this quickly to counteract the poison within you."

Backing up a bit, she pushed a glass of hot liquid into my hands and gave me a hopefully expectant look that didn't abate until I finally downed the contents, hissing slightly at the temperature. I didn't there there was any way I'd poison myself, but that would be the last time I tried to eat any raw bamboo-that much was certain.

Seemingly satisfied that her attendant was far enough away to allow her to speak at a more conversational volume, Tsukiko grasped my hand as she spoke, "Kumori left a message that you had been killed by the bandits that plague this village, but she never hasn't returned since yesterday. I am glad to see that you are unharmed."

Rubbing my neck with a free hand, wondering how I'd been out so long, I answered quietly, "Well you could have fooled me. Your little 'hello' felt like it about broke my neck."

Her reaction suggested that it well might have been the first time anyone had talked to her in such a way. I couldn't quite tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Y-you startled me...again. I would think you were stalking me with your knack for showing up whenever I'm bathing," she answered with a blush.  
"I'm definitely _not_ stalking you. Even without considering how young you are, after that Kumori bitch tried to kill me last night, this was the last place I'd hoped to end up," I answered with more than a hint of anger.

"She...no, that isn't possible. Her family has been loyal retainers to mine for hundreds of years. There must have been some misunderstanding-she has only ever wanted what was best for me," Tsukiko answered defensively.  
Frustrated, and still on edge due to a powerful hunger, my response likely came out harsher than I intended as I argued back, "Look, princess. She gave village secrets, along with what looked like vulnerabilities and weapons to the band of mercenaries she paid to pick me up. _Then_ she tried to kill me after those same mercenaries left me for dead."

Taken aback by my words and tone, she seemed to huff slightly in a barely masked irritation as she came back, "You must be mistaken."

I wasn't in the mood to argue, let alone try and upend this girl's entire world. I was convinced she had nothing directly to do with the shit carousel of the previous day, so I reevaluated my stance.

Taking her feelings into consideration, I softened my response a bit as I replied, "I...could be wrong. My head has been more than a little muddled since I got here and I'm so hungry I can't even think straight."

"Of course...stay hidden under this blanket and I will fetch some food. Something with less cyanide than your last meal, I imagine. Is there anything you would like to eat?" she asked in a disarmingly sweet voice.  
Taken aback by her offer, I answered with the first thing that came to mind, "Meat."

Smiling as she covered me in a large blanket that smelled intoxicatingly of her, I watched her slither from the room, my mind shocked back into the realization that I'd just been dealing with a monster. I was finding it more than a bit odd that, while I certainly couldn't have missed the distinctive horns or scales proclaiming her monstrous heritage, those features were no more distracting than her more than impressive feminine bounty.

At that last thought, I barely held the urge to smack myself as I inwardly scolded myself, "She's only fifteen, jackass. She probably snuck you into her room while her parents were asleep so she could-"

"Wait...what _did_ she want with me?" I wondered in silence.

That thought joined several others in a press-gang that seemed determined to browbeat the thoughts of silly "morals" into submission. The more depraved parts of my mind-likely the majority-were doing their damndest to convince my more rational neuron clusters that mamono just matured faster than humans so it was probably no big deal. She might have also seen me as some kind of escape from whatever pre-planned future she already had here what with the four suitors she already had lined up.

I forced my mind to visions of the coming meaty feast before baser thoughts could gain any more ground within my weary mind. Peeking out from my hiding spot beneath the blanket, I finally saw my host returning with a large basket as well as an instrument resembling a biwa cradled in her other arm.

If she was about to serenade me while I ate, then it was pretty clear that simply pumping the brakes wasn't going to do the job. Prepared to hop up to stand on the pedal, I caught the powerful aroma of the carnivore's delight she'd brought with her and instead decided to do whatever the fuck it would take to make filling my belly a reality.

As I tore into the feast that had so graciously been handed to me, consisting of chicken and thinly-sliced beef garnished with a variety of different mushrooms, I was nearly overcome with a joy that I hadn't felt since before I could remember. Hunger may be the best spice, but this meal would have been epic on its own, bringing literal tears to my eyes as each tantalizing bite slid home.

Having lost track of time right about the moment I opened my mouth to consume the first piece of cooked flesh, I finally felt some sanity starting to worm its way through the perverted haze that had been clouding every thought that wasn't related to food as I swallowed the last bite of the meal before me.

As she continued to play a very mellow piece of music, she cast a glance at me over her shoulder that spoke prodigious volumes on exactly what thoughts were occupying her mind, screaming a stark contrast to the serenity of her playing. The look alone was enough to convince the rest of my body to get in on the act, the evidence still thankfully concealed beneath the blanket.

"I bathed you while you slept, and now that you've eaten…" she said as she trailed off meaningfully.  
Trying to change the subject, I spoke up, "That was amazing. Did you cook that yourself?"

"Of course. While my village and ceremonial duties can be rather demanding, I have been trained in the skills to please my eventual mate to the utmost since I was old enough to slither," she quietly answered with a note of pride.  
Trying to direct her thoughts even further from me, I began again, "I see. I've heard that you have four wonderful gentlemen that have been extensively groomed to be worthy of being your mate."

Making it clear that _that_ was the precise wrong angle to have taken, she set her instrument down gently before surging toward me, her snake-like tail easily binding my lower half.

"It's ridiculous! I am of age and should be allowed to choose my own mate and yet my mother would have me married within the month. Every one of those suitors may as well be the same man. They are well-bred, well-educated, well-groomed...and not a single one of them has ever looked at me as anything more than my station. _You_ have only ever seen me as a woman," she whispered breathlessly as she pressed her chest against me with a quiet whimper.

Unable to move my lower half and quickly losing ground against her very aggressive persuasion, I spoke again, "I only barely saw you naked and...you don't even know my name! I'm-"

Running her lips teasingly up my neck to my ear, she whispered, "Your name is Joseph, but your friends call you Joe."  
"Wait...how could you you-" I began before she placed her silencing finger again to my lips.

"You talk in your sleep," she said seductively as she continued to gently and rhythmically tighten her coils around my lower half, adding, "You said so _many_ things in your sleep...I can't imagine my first time being with anyone more perfect."

It didn't matter how many red flags flew at that moment or how loud the sirens blared as a warning to get the hell out of there. I was my own enemy here, and it looked like I'd done a pretty fine job of making sure I wasn't going to get out of this easily.


	5. Chapter 5 - Pressing a Disadvantage

Chapter 5 - Pressing a Disadvantage

"Lady Tsu-" I began before she pushed me up against the line marked "point of no return", silencing me as she brought her lips to mine, the kiss quieting me far more effectively than her fingers could have.

Drifting slowly away from the kiss with a euphoric look glazing her features, she put her forehead to mine and continued to whisper, "Call me Tsukiko or...whatever you want as long as you'll call me yours."

I was being faced with a difficult decision and my objections paled like candles before a fiery conflagration. This girl didn't look or act her supposed age, and no virgin should know how to move her hips so expertly without exposure to rap videos. If this was what she really wanted, who was I to turn her down?

The answer to that question was: "a responsible man."

That was assuming I still had the option to turn her down, of course. The warmth of her lips had stolen nearly all that remained of any desire to continue applying the brakes on the situation. Why was I even resisting when simply letting things happen would be so much easier?

That fleeting wisp of a reason managed to catch for just a moment as I asked, "Why...do you want this so badly? Why me?"

Not loosening her grip in the slightest, she wrapped her arms around behind my neck as she gazed deeply into my eyes as she tendered her response, "My entire life has played out on the stage of this town with my mother as the conductor. In three days my mother will choose my first husband from among those four men I never wanted...and you are so unlike any of them."

Feeling like I could at least understand that line of reasoning, I answered back, "If your mother likes these men so much, why doesn't she just fuck them herself and let you live your own life?"

With a surprised blush at my language, she frowned a bit before responding, "She already has. Those 'rituals' were just her way of teaching those faceless men how to properly pleasure a being so far above their own station or to sate her own shameful hunger. My father's ashes were still cooling when she started demanding that one of her eager worshipers be given the gift of my virtue."

"So then why don't you just run away? Why even stay if you're just going to end up stuck in a life you never wanted?" I asked earnestly, nearly forgetting to keep my voice low.

"I've wanted to. I'm tired of playing at this life in my mother's shadow. Even after I'm forced to marry, it'll still be at least a thousand years before she dies or steps down. The shame that a dalliance with a commoner would bring to my mother and our entire family would let me feel like I'd at least taken some grasp of my life. When I think of the disgrace of letting a 'lowly' traveler defile this body, my mother's anger at seeing my ravaged form, still dripping with the evidence of his conquest, and the unmatched humiliation that would follow…" she said as she shivered, squeezing me more tightly as she added, "Please Joseph...I am not asking you to be my husband-I am asking you to ruin me for the man that will be."

Whatever I thought of her reasons, I respected that there was a bit more than simple lust and happenstance driving her desire. I may not have agreed with the rest of her reasoning or how she wanted to strike out at her mother, but her conviction, coupled with her deepening voice, was easily destroying what was left of my reluctance.

Something else didn't seem right, or perhaps there was something I was missing. I realized that at least some of the problem nested within me. Without a goal to which I aspired, or any real emotional attachments...I simply felt empty. Like a maple seed that has yet to know the embrace of the soil, I continued to spin helplessly towards the earth, a slave to the winds that held me aloft against my will.

This woman before me was one such wind. In the void of any desires of my heart, I was nearly helpless to reject the very palpable desires of the flesh. Fine. If this girl thought I'd lay back as a passenger like the random passerby for whom she'd been hoping, however, she was going to be in for quite a surprise. There was still another problem, though.

With no shore upon which to lay a moral anchor, my willpower was being quickly washed away. Barely maintaining enough reason to speak rationally, I stated, "We...can't do this here right now. One of your attendants will hear and come put a stop to everything-my pulse included."  
Her lustful expression shifting slightly to a scheming one, she answered my concerns, "So then you will honor my...request?"  
"I'm pretty sure 'honor' shouldn't be anywhere in that question, but...as long as you can guarantee we'll do this some place we won't be discovered...and in the evening, I will."

That was the best I could do. Even though I'd "agreed" to her proposal, I'd made certain that it wouldn't happen now so that she'd be forced to consider if she really wanted to go through with it. I could only hope that the invisible force that handed out karma knocked a few bad points off of my debt for at least _trying_ to resist the fervent demands of my barely-human libido.

If it were possible, her smile turned even more devious as she appeared to stumble upon some realization that would likely help her push the envelope even further.

With a light giggle she slowly began to unwrap herself from around me as she spoke again, "I know just the place. For now...you must still be tired, so get some rest and I'll come fetch you this evening."

And there went any chance I had at good karma.

I watched her snake-like body as she gracefully slid from the room, closing and locking the screen behind her-not that such an obstruction would stop anyone truly determined to enter. Keeping that thought at the front of my mind, I buried myself in the large blanket in the hopes that it might muffle any potentially damning somniloquies.

As I drifted back into a much-needed rest, I wondered if such an encounter could turn into something more. It certainly wasn't the most ridiculous outcome I could imagine, but then what? Would I lose my freedom and remain in this village forever? If the previous hellish day was any indication of what awaited me outside the gates...would being kept as her prize be so awful?

Against my better judgement, I decided that hoping for that outcome would be...for the best.

-  
-Some time later

"Do you mean that?" I heard Tsukiko's voice asking playfully as I was roused from my sleep.  
"Huh? Uh...what did I say?" I asked, still trying to get a grasp on my surroundings.

Around me was a completely different room. Far larger than the room in which I'd fallen asleep, candles illuminated these opulent chambers. Looking more like a shrine than a bedroom, the room was still furnished with a large bed that looked to have been grown out of the floor rather than added to the room as an afterthought.

As the light of the candles danced across the polished wooden floor, I started to have second thoughts about letting her choose to locale for our little tryst. I supposed that it wouldn't matter as long as we weren't discovered.

"Drink this," she commanded as a strange, but familiar-tasting liquid was quickly poured down my gullet before I could mouth a word a protest.  
Coughing at the sudden intrusion, I looked up at her, "W-what did you just give me? It tastes...strange."

Finishing a small vial of the same liquid herself, she raised up slightly over her uncoiled lower half and leered down at me as she spoke, "Just a mild alchemical mixture my mother procured on a recent trip to Amarante, I understand it was quite expensive."

I looked at the vial to see that there was very little to suggest what was within. The label had instructions and a few warnings that brought an unexpected and unbidden smile to my face as I read.

 _Unending* Copulatory Aggrandizer  
*Nothing is unending save the embrace of death_

 _Directions:  
1\. Drink.  
2\. Fornicate._

 _Warnings:  
-This tonic may impair your ability to perform complex sexual positions such as "The Flaming Serpent", "The Gladiator's War Hammer", or the inverted "Crouching Tiger."  
-If an erection persists for more than twelve (12) hours, continue sexual activities until it ceases.  
-The influence of this product may result in unwanted vocal exclamations, this product should not be used in any situation in which discretion is desired.  
-Pursuant to article 349.3(x) of the Alnor Brotherhood of Upstanding Gentlemen charter (rev 1.4), The manufacturer is not responsible for any additional fees accrued as a result of consuming this product for the purposes of heightening sexual arousal during any encounter with a prostitute.  
_

Well this was certainly going to be interesting. I didn't have any idea what this stuff was going to do to me once it took full effect, and I was determined to make this a unique experience for Tsukiko so I took a bit of initiative, pushing her back onto the massive bed as she moaned in response.

It was not lost on me that she _let_ me push her down, but I wasn't going to let that bother me.

As I slid myself down to engulf her womanhood into my mouth, she arched her back in a wanton display of need, as she shyly covered her face with her hands, that allowed me to wrap my arms around her ample hips, making certain I still had easy access to her naughty bits even from my slightly offset position to her side.

Not two seconds after my tongue was treated to one of the most interesting flavors I had ever experienced, I heard a booming female voice call out from behind me.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the voice thundered into the room.

My thoughts having already started to slip into a sexual fugue, I attempted to disengage myself so that I could explain what was probably the worst possible situation I could imagine; a very angry-and much older-looking-Ryu was glaring at the two of us.

"Mother! T-this brute drugged me and seduced me away from my ritual!" Tsukiko shouted, managing to get my entire body under the bus in a single toss.

Seeing the desperately nervous look coming from Tsukiko, I had a minor moment of clarity. Unless my almost-lover was simply a vindictive bitch-certainly a possibility I couldn't discount-she was probably just trying to cover her (metaphorical) ass. Whatever the case, I was going to be in deep shit regardless. I decided to take a gamble. If I was wrong about this girl then perhaps she'd at least live with some guilt for what I had planned next.

As I let my grip loosen, I turned slightly towards the older Ryu as I answered, "That...is exactly what happened. Such a noble being is beyond me, and I...thought that I could experience true bliss in her arms."

"What?" Tsukiko and her mother asked at once, the latter with a biting edge of anger in her voice, the former in a dumbfounded confusion.

I had to at least believe that Tsukiko was being honest about her life here, and even if this was all some game at my expense, what could it hurt to take the noble path in a bad situation? The anger in her mother's eyes made me worry that this wouldn't pass with a simple slap on the wrist and, for better or worse, I still felt like I owed Tsukiko for saving me from death by starvation.

Slithering over me towards her mother and moving into a slight kneel (or what passed for a kneel from her snake-like body), she spoke up, "No! I mean-That...isn't true. I brought him here because I've-"

I tried to turn the rest of my body around so that I could move forward to kneel myself when I tripped, realizing that my feet had been bound to the bed with the silken sheets at some point. Falling forward, I reached out in a last-minute attempted to brace myself against an inglorious faceplant into the large bed.

As though scripted in a sadist's idea of the most satisfyingly horrible way this could transpire, I managed to catch myself with one hand landing softly on the plush surface of the bed, the other coming down upon Tsukiko's backside-where her ass might have been if she were human-as she let out the oddest high-pitched squeal.

As two sets of eyes slowly crawled their way across the room to land on me, the older pair seemed possessed of a desire to see me torn to pieces, the second pair seeming strangely similar while also being full of...something else entirely.


	6. Chapter 6 - Maybe Worse is Better

Chapter 6 - Maybe Worse is Better

A growing part of my mind, likely being influenced by whatever I'd just swallowed, still somehow believed that this was going to turn out well. The hilariously sad reality was that, for as much as I might have been enjoying _most_ of this situation, it was likely going to be the shovel digging my grave after a short stop over at the back of my head.

Whatever else I knew about mamono, I hadn't learned until that moment that there was a certain place on a Ryu that you weren't _ever_ supposed to touch.

The next series of thoughts that came roaring through my mind in rapid succession were to wonder how Tsukiko could move so fast, why she was grabbing me, and if I'd ever been forced inside of a woman so quickly.

I was scarcely able to conjure any commentary on the vague physical resistance I felt within her as she used my body to carve a bloody path through her shattering physical resistance, only to come to rest at the center of her sexual core.

Seeing her blood as it stained me just as surely as it ruined the sheets beneath us, I swallowed hard with a twinge of fear. The last gasp of the fading rational pieces of my mind saw that red stain as a harbinger for more blood that was likely to follow...almost certainly mine. There was going to be no way to talk my way free of this.

Loud enough to easily understand, but far enough from the sensations that had almost completely consumed my perceptions, I heard Tsukiko's mother shout, my alchemically altered state of mind hearing it as little more than the buzzing of a mosquito, "You will pay dearly for this transgression, you foul creature!"

She was right, though I wondered if she'd already guessed at _how_ I'd be paying.

My sexually addled state may have affected my judgement, but my heart was beating so heavily with desire that my vision blurred slightly with every pounding thump within my chest. Tsukiko wasn't going to make it easy to focus on anything beyond her and it wasn't in me to resist her.

Her eyes met mine, the lust in hers not dampened by the tears that must have come from the union of an unfamiliar pain with an equally unfamiliar pleasure. With my own eyes fixed upon her, my stare was never left wanting as she tore the clothing from her own body in any places my eyes landed. It was in that way she made certain that I saw naught but her flesh as it seemed to become warm and flushed at the barest glance.

Surprise became my companion as the comforting warmth of her embrace became a shivering vice that held me completely immobile while the fury of her unsated lust rushed to the fore.

Letting slip a moan of frustration, I felt the smooth scales of her lower half as it continued to coil around and between my legs, the sensation far from unpleasant. Once she had my entire form supported by her inhuman grasp, she began to move her supple body like a wave against and around me.

Leading with her head, she leaned in close enough to touch her nose to mine before pulling her face away as her pillowy breasts pushed up against me only long enough to tease me. As her flat stomach brushed against mine, I braced myself for what I knew would be quickly to follow.

An involuntary gasp leapt from me as her sinuous body moved me within her. Drawing me from her almost completely with her serpentine movements, she hesitated as if to give the cool air one last chance to caress my firmness before it was buried within her to stay.

Her climax came nearly without warning as she kept up her movements, seeming to slither against me as the rest of her tail teased every inch of skin she could reach. At first dumbfounded by what seemed to be this virgin's masterful touch, a closer look at her blissfully unaware face revealed that the immense pleasure she was meting out was little more than the instinct-driven movements of her beautifully inhuman body.

The rapid but gentle wave of her entire body quickened to near vibration as she screamed out her release, her voice sounding almost as confused as it was desperate. Her frenzied hands dug into my shoulders as she seemed to cling to me in a fear that the potent sensations might never cease.

Unable to so much as move my arms, I was helpless in her grip as I approached my own summit. I had a surprising thought at that moment that I tried to vocalize, even knowing it might be too late.

"I need to move. You...could get pregnant!" I grunted as I tried to hold back the inevitable.

My words definitely had the opposite effect. Throwing her eyes open, her grip over my entire body tightened as she searched my face for what she should do. The spastic fluttering of her silky vaginal walls would have only one answer from me, however, as I gave in. With my body shaking so hard that it seemed for a moment that she might actually lose her grip on me, I released what felt like geysers of my essence straight into her.

Every place within her that was touched by my eager offering seemed to light up in an even more intense stimulation as she threw her head back to issue a silent scream, her pace not abating even after I began to moan at the pain of my overstimulation that followed.

Readjusting her entire body as she continued to work herself upon me, I felt my entire body being forcibly squeezed by an increasingly insensate mamono that appeared unable to control her own strength while under such duress. In the next moments, I felt her climax again just as I felt my ribs threatening to splinter.

Even when I eventually did feel the dull cracks in my chest as at least one of my ribs broke under the strain, I blessed whatever alchemical concoction I'd consumed as it kept me from feeling the lion's share of the agony I was owed.

The pain _was_ substantial enough that it brought a bit of clarity to my mind, allowing me to make a fervent resolution.

Barring an assignment to some kind of mission to avert armageddon with sex, I would never lay down with a virgin mamono again. Tsukiko simply had no concept of how close she came to crushing me to death and I wasn't even sure she would have noticed for at least a few hours with how lost she'd become in what she was feeling.

-

It could have been hours, days, or weeks as far as my clouded mind knew, before the coquettish girl's lust was finally sated. I felt drained beyond reason and in pain at every breath from what was probably at least two broken ribs. Luckily, due to being held almost completely immobilized for so long, I was far more bruised and sore than physically exhausted.

Finally able to disengage myself from the heavy embrace of the now ex-virgin Ryu and the utterly soaked bedding, I balked at the sheer volume of "energy" that I had discharged. The loss of so much fluid would have seen me dead from dehydration hours (days?) ago, so I figured something in that tonic must have been keeping me hydrated.

Whatever had been keeping my thirst at bay, however, had certainly worn off and I was feeling desperate for a drink of water.

Fighting the dull pain throughout my midsection, I stumbled my way to the sliding door and reached for it when Tsukiko's voice called out from across the room, "I...think you should remain here. My mother will almost certainly have you imprisoned the moment you walk out that door."  
"O-oh yeah?" I asked, my hand hesitating.  
"I could try to speak on your behalf...tell my mother the entire truth and ask for clemency...or to let you stay as my…" she continued with a growing hesitation.  
"Tsukiko," I said simply, interrupting her before she could finish that thought.  
"Y-yes?" she said in reply.  
"This isn't a normal bedroom...what is this place?" I asked as I gaped at the vaulted construction, the artfully engraved wood of nearly every surface so polished as to be nearly reflective.  
"This is the sacred chamber at the heart of our family's home. It is typically forbidden for anyone to-"

Not expecting to have heard anything different, I cut her off, "Then...Do you love me? Do you even like me?" I asked as I looked back in her direction, reasonably certain on how she would answer.  
"Such things are not...required for a harmonious marriage. After a few years we could...grow quite fond of each other. If you were to always treat my body with such care as you just did, then-"  
"Okay, Tsukiko. That's all I needed to hear," I said as I turned and opened the door leading from the room.

I only got a glimpse of the hallway beyond before a slender, masked female seemed to materialize before me, her elfish-looking ears the only obvious hint that she wasn't human. Her emotionless eyes seemed to be watching me closely, perhaps expecting that I was going to try to run.

Looking back over my shoulder at Tsukiko, I gave her a subdued smile as I spoke again, "Thank you. I really appreciate that you even suggested we get married. For a minute there I actually considered it, but that isn't what you want and you should seriously do whatever is going to make you happy."

"Wait, Joseph," she blurted out before I had turned away, "Just stay for now...my mother might have you killed."  
"If that's the case then staying here any longer isn't going to help me. Maybe I'm feeling lucky...plus, you're in this mess because you were forcing yourself to live a life you didn't want. I'm not all that keen on my lack of purpose becoming your life-defining shame. Anyway, I'm just going out to get some water...I'll be back in little while," I answered, this time with a forced smile.

Turning back around to the ninja elf cosplayer, I gave her a nod and stepped into the hallway as I closed the door behind me. I doubted that being noble was the smart choice here, but it was probably at least the _right_ one.

"I'm not going to run...so take me to the edge of the village, your lord, or to jail...but could I please get some water first?" I said without averting my eyes.  
"I was ordered to take you directly to the honorable master as soon as you left the room…" she answered quietly as she took an appraising look at me.

My only answer was a sigh as she moved behind me.  
"But...here," she offered sympathetically as she handed me a waterskin.  
"I had a good feeling about you," I said with a smile before I downed the contents of the waterskin. Savoring the most refreshing drink of milk I'd ever had, the life-restoring liquid washed away what was left of my malaise and most of my physical pain right along with the dryness in my throat.

As the sexy ninja led me down a series of hallways, seemingly in an attempt to confuse my senses, I felt myself starting to slip back into another grey void of depression. The same questions kept coming up with no good answers. What was going to happen to me? What could I do? What did I even _want_ to do?

Almost instinctively kneeling as I entered the large study, I kept my eyes on the floor as I heard a few shuffling feet behind me, followed by the sound of a sliding screen closing.

"I am only going to ask this once," came the voice of the elder Ryu, the richness doing nothing to hide the fact that her calm tone was but a thin veneer holding back a storm of rage.

I remained silent to await the coming question, hoping that it was the respectful thing to do.

"Where is Kumori?" she finally asked after an excruciatingly pregnant pause.  
"Dead, probably. I'd guess somewhere at the bottom of that ravine near this village," I said plainly, my surprise at her question overwhelmed by what I felt was a need to remain calm.  
"As curious as I am about how you managed to escape from the Ashtail mercenaries or how you managed to best my most skilled assassin, I will hear you explain yourself before I decide your punishment," she answered, her own shock poorly masked.

"Well, I can only assume you knew how your daughter felt and that Kumori was giving secret information about the village to those mercenaries, so I won't go into any of that. As for me, I'm just a simple man that stumbled into this village while I was trying to escape from something outside the walls. I didn't plan for any of this and if it's all the same to you, I'd prefer to just leave this village and never look back," I said, speaking in an already defeated tone.

I was inwardly cursing myself for being so open with information. My mental gears were still gummed up from exhaustion and I reacted to my damning statement almost exactly as the Ryu did.

"I have decided upon a punishment. You _deserve_ to be tortured and sold into slavery for your crimes, not the least of which involved defiling my daughter's purity, but my generosity demands that you be given an honorable death via public execution tomorrow," she droned with a look in my direction that suggested that I should have been grateful.  
"The lady is ridiculously fucking generous to offer me such a boon," I spat through clenched teeth, at least as angry with myself as with her.

I wasn't sure _why_ I was so angry. Wouldn't death solve the problem of having all those nagging questions? I didn't like that anger seemed to be quickly becoming my only reason to keep living.

"I have important business to which I must attend and your stench has disturbed my meditations," she added dismissively as the ninja girl seemed to materialize to bring me to my feet and out of the room.

Part of me wanted to see if I could talk my way into the more severe punishment of torture and slavery by mentioning that the only "stench" that was covering me was that of her thoroughly ravaged daughter, but something in the gentle grasp on my arm convinced me to restrain myself.

As I was led through more hallways and several sets of stairs leading down, I started to wonder if there wasn't something else going on here. My attempts to dismiss it all as extraneous bullshit, however, kept failing. Despite myself, I started to realize that even if I didn't have a defined goal...I didn't want to die for lack of one. I also didn't want to be buried simply because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Coming into a rough room that couldn't have been anything but a dungeon, I was led into a cell with thick wooden beams as bars. The thankfully dry floor had a large patch of fresh looking hay that had been set down for bedding and a lovely iron bucket that I could only assume would be my best friend in the event that nature came calling.

As the cell closed behind me, my numbing mind barely registered the whisper of my shadowy jailer as she quietly spoke, "You have done this village a great service in killing Kumori. While 'we' cannot act to see you free of your fate, you will not be forgotten."

"That's great...really. I'm sure I'll sleep a lot better the night before my fucking execution to know I achieved some intangible good for some people that aren't grateful enough or able enough to find a way to avert that execution," I said bitterly as I heaved myself into the pile of hay, cursing as the sharp pain in my ribs reminded me that I needed to be more gentle with myself.  
"Is there any other service I might provide?" she asked, almost making me feel guilty with her apologetic tone.  
"No, just-actually…" I began as a ridiculous thought struck me. Rifling through my pockets to find my single gold piece, I asked, "You think you could get me some parchment and ink and then deliver something for me?"  
"That can be arranged, may I inquire as to the recipient?" she replied, suddenly curious.

"A member of those mercenaries named Azalea," I said as I turned to look out the single tiny window into the clear night sky.


	7. Chapter 7 - Dead Man Walking

Chapter 7 - Dead Man Walking

"What?" I asked in barely amused response to a very sour frown from miss ninja as I continued, "The worst she can do is reject my proposal...and how exactly would that be worse?"  
"Perhaps I misjudged you," she said with a look of utter disappointment.  
"Yeah, well it's mostly her fault I'm in this mess and she said she'd make it up to me if I survived...so are you going to deliver it or not?" I asked, growing slightly desperate to see this woman doubting my one and only possible plan.

"At least let me read it," she said, extending her hand.

 _Dear Heartless Bitch,_

 _You owe me.  
I'm going to be executed because of you.  
You owe me.  
I'll pay you to stop the execution and protect me afterwards.  
Everything I own is enclosed in payment.  
Oh, and you owe me._

 _Creditorfully yours,  
R. Joseph Marston_

 _P.S. You owe me_

"What do you think?" I asked dryly.  
"I think I don't need to worry about the village being in danger from her trying to rescue you. But if you truly wish these to be the last words you write, I'll deliver it," she admitted.  
"I know it's hopeless. I'm almost hoping the letter pisses her off enough to get her here. If I had another option, I'd take it...but you told me there's nothing you can do. I don't have to like it, but if you know that you'd save more lives to let me die, I can't exactly argue the point without sounding completely worthless."  
"That is sadly the case. I will speak to the council on your behalf as well, though I doubt it will do much good," she said with a slight frown.

"So why are you helping me?" I asked, suddenly wondering what I could have done to earn this otherwise positive treatment.  
"That katana you carried with you belonged to my family and proved that the 'honorable' master has been disarming the citizens of the village, likely to take control."  
"Isn't she already in control?" I asked as I looked around again to make certain I was still in a cell.  
"Not as such. She has nearly absolute jurisdiction over her own household, but her position in the village is otherwise mostly ceremonial."  
"So then...she wasn't just giving weapons to the mercenaries…" I mumbled as I started to put it together in my head.

Nodding at my supposition, she gave me a grin as she finished that thought for me, "You catch on quickly. Yes, she has been making certain the people of the village have no way to contest her rule."  
"Damn it, so that's why she needs me to die. I saw the detailed information on the village weak points too...so does that mean she was planning to pay the mercenaries to attack this village?"

"I think so. If there is a crisis-especially one in which the village council was attacked or killed-she would have to step up and take power. The council suspected that she'd been planning such a coup for the last decade and I entered into her employ to determine the truth of it," she confessed as she nodded.

"Well then there's probably no chance I'll see a rescue. If the mercenaries were already paid, then I doubt they'd take up my ridiculous contract...even _if_ I had more to offer than a single gold piece.  
"Sadly, that is likely the truth of it. I cannot risk my position to carry out your rescue myself...I am truly sorry."  
"Shit. The good stuff always happens when my life is hanging in the balance."  
"This has happened before?"  
"I...guess I don't know. My memories are pretty much shot to hell. Though...if somehow I make it through this, I'm going to make enough new memories to forget that I ever lost the old ones."

Blinking in confusion, she finally conceded, "I have no idea what you're talking about, but after the day and a half you spent with Tsukiko, you should probably get some rest."  
"If you get a spare moment, could you make sure she's okay?" I asked, hoping the young Tsukiko wouldn't end up involved in these dirty politics.  
"When she was carrying you to the inner shrine, I saw her truly smiling for the first time I can remember. Who knew that peeping on her in the bath would leave such a positive impression?"  
"That was mostly accidental."  
"And agreeing to have sex with her?"  
"That was me...but I thought she might decide against it. It's not like I was the least bit seductive with it or anything."  
"I see. And so violently teasing her reversed scale was-"  
"Hold on!" I interrupted, "That was totally unintentional! She had my feet tied to the bed!"  
"I do not believe I heard any words of protest…"  
"I know you think you're messing with me, but fucking that sweet girl was the only upshot of this entire experience. And you know what? Even with the broken ribs and questionable legality, I'd do it again too."  
"The young mistress deserves an honest man like you, though perhaps one that is less...whorish?"

With a harumph, I crossed my arms with a grimace and closed my eyes, "Whatever...just because I think _you're_ getting prettier by the moment doesn't make me a whore."  
"It...most certainly does!" she said with a slight blush before vanishing in a flash.

Until she vanished, I didn't realize just how much I wanted her there. She seemed interesting enough, but the only thing that really mattered was that she was _somebody_.

While there was noise and conversation, I'd been able to forget about my predicament. Once the oppressive grip of silence laid its pall upon me, however, I started to quickly fall apart.

"By this time tomorrow...I'll be dead…" I mumbled, hoping that even the echo might keep me company.

It was hard to argue that I didn't deserve this. Beyond the holes in my memory, the last thing I'd done was try to end my life anyway. When I tried to think of what forgotten series of events it would have taken to convince my stubborn ass how stupid I'd been, I couldn't stop the tears. Choosing to give up my memory, and realizing that I didn't awaken surrounded by people that knew me meant that _that_ was just another decision to throw an entire life away. I knew why I'd thrown myself off that bridge, but I didn't know why I'd given myself this new death.

Would anyone care that I was gone? Would anyone even notice? What would happen to me once my heart finally stopped beating?

The questions came louder and louder in my mind with the answering silence taking the wind from me every time. My thoughts had become a discordant rabble without a real purpose.

I didn't see the ninja girl again and the two meals that were brought for me went completely untouched even though the second looked to have been prepared by Tsukiko especially for me.

The slight hope that I had remaining was the spare glimmer of a single distant star within the sable lake of the sky above, its light impossible to see unless stared at directly. And stare I did. In the minutes that felt like days, I let my imagination run wild with every possible scenario I could imagine in which I got to walk away from this village.

Like backhanding an unruly child, however, the suddenly present rational majority of my mind responded with excessive force in crushing each fantasy with the sickeningly stark image of looking down at my own beheaded or dismembered body twitching in its feeble death throes.

Even if my execution was stopped, the chances that such a prideful woman as the master would let me go in peace seemed slim. I gave a sardonically biting inward chuckle as I realized I'd never even heard her name.

For the first time I could remember, I was glad to have been so exhausted as a fitful slumber dragged my overwrought mind into the relative peace of oblivion.

-  
-The following day

The walk to the center of town was so dreamlike that I remembered nothing of it beyond the tentative touch of Tsukiko's hand upon mine as I passed her. I doubted that my attempt to force a smile was anything less than horrifying given her saddened reaction.

A small crowd had gathered around an unremarkable central venue for this public spectacle. In my drab, washed-out perceptions, they appeared as silent, faceless statues. What did it matter who was watching if the result would be the same?

Lead up to the elevated pedestal with nothing more than a small mat upon which to kneel, I took one last desperately hopeful look at the edges of the crowd for any sign of deliverance and was left wanting. I let my gaze fall back to to my feet with the taunting thought that this final, painful insult only came because I had dared to hope.

As numerous charges were read off, I continued to defy my pessimistic self-hatred as my eyes shot to any place from which my salvation might arrive. Even as each look dredged up little more than a steadily escalating despair, I couldn't let myself give in.

Jolting me sideways from my preoccupied thoughts, a question was shouted in my direction.

"Does the condemned have anything he wishes to say before the sentence is carried out to preserve his honor?"

Perhaps it was the last of "me" that hadn't been crushed flat by the irresistible weight of melancholy upon my mind, or an attempt to turn that dejection into something with which I could more easily cope, but as I looked at the haughty, self-important Ryu that had passed judgement upon me...something snapped.

"You know what? You can take your honor and cram it down that shit-swilling throat! Before long it'll be your turn, bitch, and the decades you're stealing from me will be a drop in the bucket against the hundreds or thousands of years that you'll never see. Fuck honor and fuck _YOU_!"

Certainly not the Braveheart tribute I intended, to be sure.

My angry outburst did not give me the satisfaction for which I was hoping, but the horrified look on the woman's face, coupled with the loud gasp of astonishment from the assembled crowd brought a small smile to my grief-weathered face.

"Executioner! You may proceed with the-" the master's flustered voice began before another vaguely familiar one cut her off.

"I wouldn't do that!" another voice shouted as the sound of intentionally noisy footsteps approached from the nearby edge of the crowd.  
"Who are you to disrupt these proceedings? This man has already been found guilty and there is nothing you can say that would-"

Coming into view was not the person I hoped or expected to see. Nevertheless drawing a sigh of relief to see her, I saw the fox girl from before, looking no worse for the ridiculous fall she somehow survived as she approached carrying the shirt that she'd unintentionally torn off of me.

Interrupting the imperious Ryu, the increasingly attractive youko shouted, loud enough that everyone assembled could hear, "So you're in the habit of executing foreign dignitaries? Does Lord Kioko know? Should I tell her when I meet with her in a few days?"

This young woman was certainly not long on humility as she beamed with a confident fire that seemed to push people away from her as she advanced upon the center of this spectacle.

"Please, this man is an outworld commoner and he has broken several of our laws. What about this man could be so important that Lord Kioko would even acknowledge his passing?" the cruel judge loudly countered.  
"You mean aside from his absolutely wonderful cock?" she began with a wide grin, adding, "Ah, I see the princess knows what I'm talking about!"

No. She hadn't just said that, right? While she managed to shout color back into my world, all of that color was red.

About to throw my hands up in anger, I blushed fiercely as I angrily whispered at the brash youko, "What the fuck are you doing?! You're not helping!"  
"Shut your mouth, Joe. I want it ready to thank me later," she replied with a wink as she continued her shouting, "This man is a well known whore from Alnor!"

God damn it, this woman was pissing me off. If she was going to distract the crowd with random bullshit, she could have at least tried saying I had some kind of plague or death curse placed on me. She _did_ have the crowd distracted, however, and I was half-tempted to try and make a break for it. The fact that she knew my name and that she had shown up here meant that she had to be following me. That witch told me that there were at least two ravenous monsters that might be after me and I worried at my fate if this was one of them.

Though, being honest about how I felt, if she'd offered me a contract of eternal servitude in that moment as an alternative to my current pending fate, no amount of pride could have stopped me from taking it.

"If you continue these outbursts, then you may share in his punishment. Whores do not enjoy diplomatic immunity and certainly wouldn't be considered 'foreign dignitaries' in any part of Kioko's realm."

Now looking like she was grandstanding for the benefit of the crowd, the fox girl countered, "Except that this whore is on official business for the Alnor Brotherhood of Upstanding Gentlemen, the charter of which nearly every respectable Alnor brothel now operates! We were to meet with Lord Kioko in less than a week to discuss possible prostitution reforms for her own lands."

"You are lying! Why wouldn't he have mentioned something so important?!" the Ryu shot back in a visibly growing anger, tempered with a likewise growing seed of doubt.  
"Did you ask him? Or...were you more concerned with that spider you sent to kill him?" the fox responded in an accusatory tone.  
"Kumori was a defender of this village! She was a-"  
"Real pain in the ass to beat the rest of the way to death after she tried to kill Joseph here," the girl interjected with a darkening edge to her jovial smile, adding, "Let me just say that it is in your best interests to let this man free this very instant. If not, perhaps we could simply discuss your recent business in Amarante?"

I could already see it written on the esteemed Ryu's face. However much bullshit this fox was throwing, enough of it was apparently sticking to give the master pause.

Apparently not satisfied, the fox girl struck her reeling opponent again as she shouted, "In addition, before he could be executed there is also the matter of unpaid activities that demand compensation. By all accounts that includes nearly nine hours of 'nurse' play, twelve hours of 'dungeon' play, and some twenty-seven hours of womb-pounding, virgin-breaking fun. Since he's technically on paid leave for this diplomatic trip, that also entitles him to twice his normal rate per hour, not to mention the exorbitant penalties that come with actually _killing_ a provider. His last transaction on record came to precisely 80,000 gold for one hour. Perhaps now might be a great time to mention our 'Super Saver' payment plan. Let me just draw up the-"

Finally succumbing to the unending sales assault with an expression that instantly pulled the wretched weight from my shoulders, the Ryu bowed her head slightly in defeat as she angrily proclaimed, "Just take the whore and go!"

"I thought you might see it that way. Come on Joe, we have a very important sex-related meeting that we _really_ don't want to miss," my foxy rescuer said with a coy smile as she reached toward me.

Overcome with an elation I couldn't describe at the feeling that I was but centimeters from the freedom offered by that delicate hand, I was physically yanked in an entirely different direction.

Leaping up to the raised platform and easily tossing me over her shoulder with a single hand, the cloaked figure took a long pull from a familiar kiseru. With a trailing cloud of billowing smoke coming from beneath the hood a moment later, the large woman shouted.

"I'm not too late am I? I'll take it from here!"


	8. Chapter 8 - Zero Body Count?

Chapter 8 - Zero Body Count?

"Who in the bleeding ass honeymoon are _you_ supposed to be?!" the fox girl growled as she began rolling up her sleeves and striding towards me.  
"Just a private security contractor, here to make good on an arrangement. You didn't think it was going to be that easy to walk out of here with a big old bag full of Master Rumiko's dirty laundry, did you?" Azalea said to the angrily advancing fox before speaking to everyone else assembled, "Anyway, if it's all the same to anyone else here, I'd prefer to do this without violence," she finished as she tossed her cloak and calmly brandished a spear in her free hand.

Likely seeing this as the perfect opportunity to rid herself of numerous problems, the elder Ryu shouted, "To me! Detain all of them! Kill them if they resist!"

"Hey, Joe. You don't have anything against blood, do you?" the dark-skinned salamander asked with an unconcerned air.  
"Um…" I began hesitantly.  
"Zero body count to please the delicate flower, got it," she said with a sigh that turned to a wry smile, "For the record, I actually did want to do this with violence. You think any of these girls really knows how to fight?"

Tossing me roughly back onto my ass, the amazonian salamander let out a shrill whistle before pulling a massive falchion from a finely wrought sheath on her back. I admired the polished steel as it glimmered in the direct light of the noonday sun, the light seeming to pour across the blade like a river to fall into tiny pools around us, courtesy of the mirror-like polish.

My trance was abruptly shattered by a series of sounds like the distant cracking of whips as the air itself seemed to hum slightly. A series of short, high-pitched shrieking chirps followed, accompanied by the sound of several wet impacts. The two nearest guards cried out at the excruciating pain as I saw bones shatter and skulls crack. Remaining on their feet only a moment longer, both guards passed into unconsciousness. As an additional insult, they'd both be dealing with shattered knees when they awakened, the sling bullets that had done the damage rolling about on the ground nearby.

The assembled crowd took that as their cue to flee in screaming terror. What I wouldn't have given to have simply joined them...

Another handful of distant cracks and whistling reports echoed through the air a bit closer, this time prompting Azalea to drop her spear and reach her hand out to catch one of the stones right before it would have hit the fox girls head.

"Careful!" the salamander shouted as she grabbed her spear again, continuing with a flourish, "Alright kit, if that whole speech wasn't a line of shit then you can come with us-otherwise I'll order a special delivery to put you to sleep for a while."

"No! He's mine and he's staying with me," the fox argued as she gave up on rolling up her sleeves and simply tore them off.  
"Look, I don't want anyone to die here but that won't stop me from cutting both your hamstrings if you've a mind to get uppity. So are you with us, or…" Zee trailed off, illustrating her point by putting the fox at spearpoint quicker than I could follow.  
"Fine! I'm with you-we can sort this out once we're out of this," the fox answered.  
"Good. Didn't want to have to hurt a cute girl like you. So you want the twelve guards or the angry Ryu coming with the massive katana?" the salamander asked, almost looking bored.

I saw the dozen guards closing in menacingly as the deflowered Ryu's mother advanced from her raised position, holding a katana that must have been two meters long, still resting within its saya. It was impossible to not hear my brain's mp3 player firing up the (horribly overplayed) One-Winged Angel theme despite the look of murder being sent my way. If looks could kill, I'd have already been in the ground.

"Uh…" the fox said, hesitating as she looked doubtfully at either of her two options, grabbing for an iron-banded staff that had been dropped by one of the incapacitated guards nearby and charging for the slithering dragoness, "I'll take her."

Taking an aggressive stance with the staff, the fox made to charge at the Ryu before the snake-like woman unleashed what was certainly the deadliest iaido draw I'd ever seen, the blade tearing through the air so quickly that the world seemed to go silent a moment, coming mere centimeters from the fox-girls neck before just barely being stopped by the hardened staff held up in argument to the quick death that had been intended.

"Shit, she's fucking fast!" the furrier of my two defenders said as she began the uphill struggle of holding off the Ryu.

Looking again to Zee, I watched as she stood in defiance of the chaos around her. Having shouldered her spear, she looked unconcerned about the slowly advancing enemies as she drew leisurely upon her pipe.

"Come on. Am I really that scary? My contractor already told me not to kill you, so you've got almost nothing to worry about, right?" she said with a taunting smile, adding as she tapped out her kiseru upon her scaled heel, twisting her long hair into a ponytail around it a moment later, "This could all be bluster, anyway. Maybe you twelve will be my first opponents ever."

With obvious nods, they charged in unison. Three centaurs, a larger red-skinned oni, four girls that looked like some kind of elf, two lizardmen, a cat-girl, and the largest tarantula-looking spider girl I could imagine all advanced upon us.

Although Zee didn't seem to move any faster than I'd have expected from a mortal warrior, I was however baffled by how certain and deliberate her steps were. Leading with her broad, curved blade, I saw Zee dash toward the towering red-skinned woman first as the oni raised her arm to take a swing at the salamander.

On her approach, Zee turned her blade to bring the scattered drops of reflected sunlight straight into the oni's vision. While the oni tried to blink away the blinding light of the sun, Zee used the blunt end of her spear like a precision instrument and gracefully twisted her body to direct the oni's massive club from the top of its downward arc into the skull of the charging spider, throwing a leaping roundhouse kick to the spider-girl's jaw for good measure as the large arachnid hit the ground like a sack full of cephalothorax.

Continuing her movement, Zee brought her tail across the face of the fastest among the elves, knocking her back. Zee then lithely slid around behind the red oni to step outside the circle as though utilizing some clairvoyant awareness of exactly how the next events would play out. The other three elves charged right for me as I tensed in preparation to take a dive to safety before realizing it would have been impossible with a centaur blocking the only open route, the mare closing quickly with a large spear held high.

A moment later I saw a small spray of blood as Zee's falchion streaked across the back of the large mamono's leg, the blunt end of the salamander's spear following to brutally impact between the oni's muscular legs with such force that it ended the marriage of the oni's feet with the ground. I winced at the sound more than the sight as the telltale crack suggested the spear had just broken the red giant's pelvis. An immediate fierce kick to the oni's back turned the horned mamono into a projectile that brought down the advancing elves, one bent nearly in half by a clotheslining arm, the second impaled on the horns of the improvised trajectile, and the third toppled and trapped unconscious under the red woman's heavy body.

"Whoa ho ho! Did you see that?!" Zee said as she absentmindedly dispatched the second attempt by the remaining elf to advance with a misread feint towards the elf's feet that opened that enemy up for a brutal thrust to her solar plexus followed by a strike to her throat that looked to have nearly crushed her windpipe.

I heard a yelp and looked over just in time to see the fox girl fail to completely block a slash from the Ryu, taking a painful looking cut to the side of her neck and another on her inner thigh as the katana was thrust forward and then drawn to earth like a waterfall, respectively. The duo of cuts and the surprising pain that followed staggered the fox, almost bringing her to her knees.

As I rose to try and extricate myself from my own predicament, the nearly forgotten catgirl charged at me with her sword held high. I managed a quick leap back to avoid her initial attack, my heart leaping into my throat as the rush of adrenaline just barely managed to stifle the thought that the small girl still would have split my skull with that attack. Zee appeared unaware of this development as she backed toward me, the combination of her dual weapons working in a frantic effort to deflect the powerful incoming strikes of the two lizardmen.

My initial leap had left me with no room to dodge the next attack that had been aimed at me. Unable to even close my eyes quickly enough to brace for the coming impact, I heard a startled "Nyaa~!" as Azalea suddenly fell in my direction, her spear remaining on the ground as she came up into a roll and grabbed the attacking nekomata by both of her tails. With a small stutter step forward, Azalea bodily threw the murderous feline towards the Ryu just in time to intercept a slash that would have likely been fatal to the quickly tiring fox girl, the Ryu turning her weapon quickly enough to simply knock the nekomata unconscious with the flat of her blade. The master Rumiko slapped the nekomata from the battlefield a moment later with a whipping of her serpentine tail.

"Looks like it's time to get serious," Zee said as she hauled back and, with a thunderous yell, hurled her falchion so high into the air that I lost sight of the weapon.

The distraction was enough for the salamander to grab her spear in a forward roll. Remaining low to the ground as she came up into a crouch, she switched to a two-handed grip on her spear and made two quick thrusts through the scaled calves of the two lizardmen, their eyes having been drawn to the inexplicably thrown weapon. Zee then spun her entire body with a flourish, the otherwise uselessly flashy maneuver letting the salamander scan for additional enemies, as she let a hand free from the spear and continued the one-handed clearing swing that forced the centaurs to back up, moments before the equine assault would have reached me.

"You know I heard that they put you girls down if you take a serious leg wound. Not really something I want to imagine so I'm going to give you to the count of 'one' to be running away before I schedule all three of you for a trip to the animal glue maker," Zee finished as she took her first deep breath, seeming barely winded from the beating she'd just handed out.

Looking to each other for confirmation, the three centaurs jolted into a retreat as Azalea took one fiercely intimidating step towards them, the trio of them vanishing from sight within moments.

"Alright, Joseph...stay way back so I can save your girlfriend here. And don't go anywhere near that spider," Azalea added as she calmly advanced upon the murderous eye of the hurricane of the Ryu and her desperately flagging opponent.

I would have liked to say that the stalwart attempts by the fox girl to hold off the swordswoman were commendable and perhaps they were, especially when compared to what I would have been able to accomplish, but it wasn't looking good. My foxy protector had been blinded in one eye from a deep laceration on her forehead, and blood loss from nearly a dozen other weeping cuts was taking a clear toll. She wouldn't last another minute in that state.

Rumiko's strikes were coming with such strength and precision that the hard-pressed fox was thrown off balance or driven nearly to her knees with each attempt to block or deflect them. This opened the fluffy-tailed girl up to further torment when she was unable to fully block the attacks that followed in further insult of her lost balance.

As Azalea advanced on the two poorly-matched combatants, the Ryu gracefully wheeled back a small handful of centimeters before lunging forward with a thrust at the fox's blind side that should have been the end of the fluffy-tailed girl. With a sweeping of her own scaly tail, however, Azalea knocked the fox girl to the ground from behind, just in time to avoid the beheading stroke.

Stepping over the fallen girl, Zee indelicately kicked the fox girl directly into my arms as she turned to face the growing frown of the matronly Ryu.

"I'm sorry about before. Are you okay?" I asked the wounded youko as I held back a grunt of pain in catching her.  
"You don't...remember me?" she asked, her troubled eyes unable to completely focus on me.  
"I don't remember anything, but we can worry about that later," I said quickly as I looked her over.

Wheezing with each exhausted breath in my arms, the bleeding fox girl still managed a smile as she reached up to touch my face, hesitating a moment as she regarded me, "Huh...? No horns? So then...if...if I'd met you first...could you have...fallen…"

She was fading from blood loss, and however inhumanly tough or stubborn she might have been to survive that fall, she wasn't going to survive bleeding out. Tearing off my new prisoner's shirt without a moment of hesitation, I tied it tightly around the most worrisome cut on her thigh and kept up pressure in an attempt to stymie the flow of blood.

"Hey!" I shouted, giving her a light slap to bring her back around, "I need you to hold that cut on your arm. You had better not fucking die on me!"  
"This is...uhn...nothing. There...is another cut on my upper thigh...that I need you to...put pressure on. It's...further up," she said, trying and somehow succeeding in her attempt to look seductive despite her blonde hair covering half of her face, matted with blood and sweat.  
"Yeah, yeah. _If_ you stay alive, I promise I'll see to that other cut later, okay?"  
"Hee hee. I'll...remember you said that," she mumbled as her bright green eyes closed, unconsciousness claiming her.

Perhaps it _was_ in the most insulting way I could imagine, but stopping my execution would have been the second time this woman had saved me. There was something about her personality that just seemed full of the potential to set me off at a moment's notice, but how bad could she really be? She wouldn't have been in this situation if it hadn't been for me and she'd put herself in pretty serious danger on my behalf.

Worried that she was still in real physical trouble, I was relieved to see that my makeshift tourniquet combined with her inhuman constitution had stopped the bleeding on her largest cut. Looking her over, I was relieved to see that the rest of the many cuts upon her were mostly superficial.

Azalea just needed to stop Rumiko and we were home free.

Barely able to finish that previous thought, I saw a small gout of blood fly from the salamander as she fell backwards with a cut across her upper chest, the Ryu giving me a wicked smile as she then moved to stand above Azalea, her blade poised for a killing strike.

Fuck. Now what?


	9. Chapter 9 - Stretching Belief

Chapter 9 - Stretching Belief

With my two defenders down for the count and the returning bitter taste of reality starting to leave a film in my mouth, I tried to think of a way out of this.

"Wait!" I shouted at the Ryu, poised as she was to end Azalea right before my eyes.  
"The three of you and your allies have caused enough trouble to earn a thousand deaths. None of you understand how much I have sacrificed to keep my people safe," she said, barely acknowledging me as she focused on the fallen salamander.

Was the Ryu really that good? I was pretty sure I'd never seen the sort of ass-beating Zee had set down on those guards, and I felt like I had to be missing something.

Crossing her arms, even as she remained flat on her back with a bleeding cut across her upper chest, Azalea frowned as she spoke with a grimace, "Not that it's any of my business now, but you sold out the people you've been trying to 'keep safe'."  
Shifting her lower half slightly in anticipation of taking her final strike, the Ryu continued in a haughty tone, "You would not understand, but it wouldn't have mattered. You were the only one among the mercenaries that worried me, and you were so easy to dispatch that I wish I'd moved the plan forward sooner."

"That Five Gales style was certainly passable, but I wouldn't bring that attitude anywhere near any of the former Ashtail because I can promise you that I'd be the least of your worries," Azalea answered with a look that suggested she wasn't lying.

"Your entire filthy company of refugee mercenaries has been studied since you arrived here months ago. Attempting to save your comrades with bravado only makes you appear more pathetic," the arrogant woman answered with a smug look.

Still on her back and now visibly rolling her eyes, Azalea shook her head as she countered, "So you were going to be the savior that stopped the rampaging mercenaries that you invited to attack, hmm?"  
"That was but the catalyst for something far beyond the grasp of your understanding. It is something not unlike what you claim on the surface, but it matters little as there none present to witness my 'admission'."  
"I'm here, at least a few of your guards probably aren't completely unconscious, Joseph is here, and your *ahem* well-fucked daughter is still standing over there dumbstruck," Zee said as her wandering eyes became less and less interested in the monologuing villain above her.

Slithering forward slightly with an incredulous look upon her face, Tsukiko asked in a whisper, "Is that true, mother?"  
Nearly spitting in disgust, the elder Ryu answered, "Spare me your looks of false concern. You have shirked your duties since the day they were explained to you. This was to guarantee your safety as well as your position. Now I would like you to observe, my treasure, the sacrifices one must often make to protect her people."

"Careful, princess. People that forsake the ones they are sworn to protect almost always get what's coming to them. Sometimes it happens right away, even. You might not want to blink or you'll miss it," the salamander seemed to boast even while she made no attempt to get off her back.

If Zee was planning some type of epic dodge or blade grasp, she sure didn't seemed to be putting herself in a position to move. Did she have a plan or was she just so unafraid of death that this was really no more stressful to her than picking flowers?

As I looked on with a growing fear, I'd become aware of a faint whistling sound coupled with a low hum that seemed to be quickly increasing in volume. Rather than fester in the unknown, this mystery jumped from the closet with a "boo!" as the scene before me transformed in the most unlikely way I could imagine.

From out of the clear blue sky, a tiny sparkling pinpoint became a large, shining metal object in the span of a few heartbeats. Impacting with a dull crack followed by a billowing cloud of dust that leapt into the air only moments later, I saw the outline of the razor-edged steel of Rumiko's impossibly large katana as it fell from her hands and into the obscuring dust.

Less than a second later I heard the telltale thump of her large serpentine body hitting the bamboo floor of this stage-like platform. Not entirely certain what had just happened and knowing that this might be my only chance, I stood up and bolted for freedom with the unconscious fox girl in my arms. Good sense clearly demanded that I not look back but the larger, foolish part of me wasn't going to abandon the salamander if she could still be saved.

What I saw when the dust cleared, however, was Azalea almost literally tying the draconic tyrant into knots with assistance from a thick rope that reminded me of those iron-hard spider webs that had very nearly suffocated me not long ago.

I took two more half-hearted steps as the disbelief at what I was seeing started to sink in, my need to run quickly vanishing with my stride as I began to slow. Finally sliding to a stop while the pain in my chest caught up to me, I turned completely to survey the scene and saw Azalea sliding the large falchion back into its sheath on her back and a corresponding falchion hilt-shaped welt on the unconscious elder Ryu's head.

"No fucking way," I said, my eyes wanting to reject what I was seeing.

With the cloud of dust particles that had been kicked up by the impact and the fact that the weapon had vanished into the sky what felt like several long minutes ago...it seemed that the least likely explanation had to be the correct one in this case. Despite shifting air currents aloft, varying air pressures and temperatures, oh...and fucking _gravity_ , Azalea had thrown her large blade into the sky...only to have the damn thing knock out her opponent as it came thunderously whistling back to the earth.

"What?" Zee asked as she stepped toward me with a slightly bashful smile, "It had to come down sometime didn't it?"  
"Yeah, and you expect me to believe it was just dumb luck that it knocked out the woman you were fighting right before she was about to finish you off?" I asked incredulously as I tried to imagine the chances that she could hit a target that could have moved any number of places after the weapon had been thrown.  
"Come on, Joseph. You deserve some of the credit. I overshot that throw pretty hard, so if you hadn't gotten her to start talking about her incomprehensible plans and how amazingly awesome she was, I'd have been dead by the time the thing finally came back down," she explained, the impossibility of the act starting to wither just the tiniest bit.

"Look...uh...call me Joe. And that still doesn't make sense...even if you fell in that spot intentionally and could have planned such a thing...why would you even take such an insane risk in the first place?!"  
"Well, Joe," she began with a genuine smile as she let her hair down and began filling the kiseru, "The job called for no deaths and she was way too damn fast and far too skilled to fight normally without killing her. Not to mention she might have started tossing magic if she didn't think she had the upper hand."  
"You _are_ the same person that left me to get killed by that spider, right?" I asked as I painfully readjusted my armload of adorably sleeping fox girl.

Lighting her kiseru and taking a few shorts draws upon it, Azalea turned back towards Tsukiko as she answered me, "I told you-I don't fight unless I'm paid. I was paid this time, so I fought. Is that so confusing?"

"Yeah, it just seems a bit ridiculous. I only paid you one gold piece...I doubted you'd ever show up in the first place after you tossed me to my likely demise."  
"Huh? Well...that was that, and this is this. Is it really worth thinking so hard about it?"

"I...guess not. You did save me, and...maybe you can help me with something else."  
"What's that, boss?" Zee said as she turned back to me, a light smile the only hint that she was concerned about anything beyond business.  
"Can you take this girl and make sure she gets some proper treatment and maybe...point me in the direction of the next closest town?" I asked hopefully.  
"Sure thing," she said as she looked up into the haze of smoke that had begun to linger around her, finally coming upon her answer, "The roads in this area are actually pretty safe, but it's still a good four days to the next village."

"Damn it…" I said as I felt my stomach threaten a revolt if I agreed to such a journey without gold or provisions.  
"That girl you're holding has to have close to a couple hundred gold on her the way she jingled when I kicked her over to you. Why don't you just stay with her? She obviously knows you."  
"Yeah...that's why I want you to take her. Until I've settled on who I am now, I don't want to go reaching around in the dark for the pieces of a life I left behind," I said.

Taking the wounded fox girl from me, Zee grabbed my hand before I could back away, "Here," she said, putting the fox's heavy pouch into my hand, "The healer I'll be taking her to see doesn't take gold, so I hope she won't miss it too much."  
"Thanks Zee."  
"See, that was another moment we just had there. I'd say to keep yourself out of trouble, but instead I'll just say that you should be able to find someone that can get you in touch with an Ashtail representative in any town from here to Bestalion. Mercenary work is a lot less stressful than war and this place is pretty peaceful overall. Anyway, I'm only the leader of this tiny division, but if you ask for me…" she trailed off before finally adding, "Just...If you need help, ask for me."

It was hard to tell what this salamander was thinking. The way that she was looking at me and acting now convinced me that she at least liked my company but I'd gotten that same impression right before she'd left me to die. Was this all about her claim that she never fights unless she's paid?

"Actually...after the trip I took to get here, and since I have no idea what I'll do after...feel free to turn this down but…" I hesitated, not entirely certain why, before taking a deep breath to continue, "Could I maybe...hire you as a long-term bodyguard? After you get her to the doctor, I mean."

She tried to squint her eyes at me through the slowly-drifting smoke but couldn't hide her smile as she answered, "Maybe. How long did you have in mind?"

I hadn't gotten that far in my thought process as I thought she'd shoot me down. I threw out the first ridiculous number that came to mind, her near-ageless existence factoring into my calculations.

"Like...ten years?"  
"Do you mean 'like' ten years or _actually_ ten years?"  
Thrown off balance by her response, I mumbled to myself a bit before answering, "Actually. Ten years."  
"At least that answer had a _little_ less bitch in it. Now, why don't you make me an offer?"

Not expecting this negotiation to have gotten this far, and not sure what a fair offer even was, I tried to lighten the situation with the first number that came to mind, fully expecting her to laugh it off while I figured out a real offer.

"Twenty gold pieces," I said with a smirk.

The look she shot me in response suggested (to me) that I'd just insulted her and maybe kicked her dog and eaten her fries at the same time.

Never having been good at negotiation without all the information at hand, my mind started backpedaling as I began to sweat.

"Oh, and you can...uh...do other things too," I added, ashamed at where my mind had just gone.

The corners of her lips turned up ever-so-slightly as she turned away and looked back at me with amusement, "Oh yeah? What 'other things'?"  
"You know...to me," I clarified, blushing as I did so.  
"Anything I want?" she asked, her eyes smiling.  
"Sure, that's f-" I began before she interrupted.  
"So if I want to dress you in a corset and make you sketch flowers while I shove live pixies up your ass, that'd be fine?"  
"What are-What the fuck?!" I shouted in protest, now having difficulty forcing the image from my mind.  
"I don't know, Joe. 'Other things' is pretty wide open for interpretation," she openly taunted in answer.  
"I meant sex!" I reluctantly growled back at her.  
"Well then you should have said 'sex' in the first place," she calmly replied, her face making it clear she enjoyed seeing me flustered.  
"That would make me a whore and I wasn't sure I how I felt about that."  
"Oh, it _definitely_ makes you a whore."  
"Great. I'm a whore. So then-"  
She cut in before I could finish the statement that I probably would have left hanging anyway as she turned away from me completely, "Not interested."

Well, there went the rest of my dignity...the little I still had left, anyway.

Her back still facing me, I opened my mouth to speak before a quick look back from her silenced me before I could even form the words, "...In your second offer, that is. I'll take the first one. Twenty gold, was it? Bodyguard I can do, but I don't have sex with weak men, and I wouldn't have sex with _anyone_ unless they could best me."


	10. Chapter 10 - The 740 Year Old Virgin

Chapter 10 - The 740-Year-Old Virgin

Trying to not be pissed that she'd just called me weak but unable to deny the truth in it, I shot her an appraising eye as I wondered aloud, "I wonder how many people have been able to best her…"  
Apparently happy to answer the unasked question but still keeping her back turned to me, Azalea stood up a bit straighter as she spoke up, "In single combat? None."

"Seriously? So then you've never done it even once, just to try it out?" I asked as I began to wonder just how old this woman really was.  
"Have you never had live pixies jammed up your ass? You know...just to try it out?" She asked mockingly as she added, "I assume you're asking about the sex because I doubt even you would _try_ to lose a fight. Everyone always asks when they find out. Better to get it out of the way now."  
"So wait...how old are you?" I asked, feeling as though directness was going to be the only way to deal with this woman.

"I'm seven hundred forty four years old. Yes, I've been beaten in combat before; no, it's never been by a single person in a match that wasn't practice; yes, I would be just as happy to mate with a woman that could beat me; fifty seven men have tried to end my streak and the only two that would have had any chance were my father, Rodrigo, and a damn fool that got himself killed by a wurm the day before our match nearly ten years ago. Every year my tail grows a bit dimmer and a bit colder as I realize that fighting barely excites me anymore and even if I had my pick of any man alive, you're probably all too weak," she rattled off answers to unspoken questions one after another as though this were a very familiar situation to her.

Still flabbergasted, I tried some humor in response to her continued crushing blows to my manhood, "Well...isn't it a strength to recognize one's own weakness?"  
"Sure it is. Try that in a fight once," she answered, my joke apparently lost on her.  
"Fine, I get it. So you're really okay with ten years as my guardian for twenty gold?" I asked, trying to keep my question straightforward.  
"You won't even try to take that as a victory?" she asked as she looked back at me before adding, "Do you think I'm just an idiot? I swear...your tone says that you think you're taking advantage of me and your eyes are trying to talk me out of accepting the offer that you _know_ is ridiculous. Even still, you know you have to reach out and take the things you want to hold, right?"

"What do you want me to say, Zee? I'm not a salesman. But if that's how you feel, then...take the offer," I answered, taking her advice.

Turning back to me with a sigh and a shaking of her head, she stepped toward me and handed me a piece of rolled parchment, "You're really making me question my judgement here, you know? Read the contract completely. If you agree to the terms, sign your name and hand it back to me with the agreed upon payment."

Unrolling the parchment, I expected to see a massive end-user license agreement, complete with a foregoing of all human rights and possible inclusion in a human centipede. What I saw instead was very short and simple.

 _I, Azalea, swear to protect the undersigned from harm until such time as this contract is mutually dissolved._

 _The person that signs this contract agrees to take responsibility for any and all actions of the executor taken to protect the undersigned from harm._

 _Signed:_  
_

"What...is this?" I asked, as I quickly made my mark upon the line before she had a chance to change her mind, passing the parchment to her with twenty gold pieces I fished out of the fox girl's pouch.  
Taking the contract from me with just the hint of a smile, she answered, "You're supposed to ask questions like that before you sign it...but it's just what it looks like. If I have to hurt or kill someone to protect you, you'll bear the responsibility for it."

Pondering over that a moment, I clarified what I originally wanted to ask, "I meant...didn't you agree to ten years? There's nothing in here about a length of time at all. It sounds like I wouldn't have to let you go after that time has passed."

Sighing again, she prodded at the bleeding cut on her chest before crossing her arms as she answered, "I doubt you'll live anywhere near that long. Even with my protection, this place is dangerous for someone like you. If you're still alive in ten years by some miracle, well...I guess we'll just have to see. Anything is possible and all that."

Her demeanor was really starting to grate on me. Why did she even agree to my proposal if she saw me as little more than a future stain to clean off of her armor?

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? If you're just going to see 'someone like me' as a worthless burden, then you can just fuck _right_ off and I'll take my chances alone!" I spat at her angrily, adding, "You think it's a mystery to me that I'm a glorified chew-toy to nearly everything that walks the earth here? Why even agree to protect me if you're just-"

She took a deep breath as her smile returned, "Look, Joe. It might not seem like it, but the person you are _right now_ is someone I really like. You're staring at a woman that can and has crushed skulls larger than yours in her bare hands and asserting yourself without fear. Just moments before that you were a simpering child that couldn't pour sand out of a boot with instructions on the heel."  
Feeling suddenly very conflicted with what she'd just said as I wrangled with my own self-doubt, I still shot back, "You...run pretty fucking hot and cold, you know that?"  
"What can I say? I grew up in the desert and it's in my blood. It's just who I am," she said, matter-of-factly.  
"It's a lot easier to be assertive when you don't have anything to lose. The only truly proactive thing I've done in the last several years I can remember was try to kill myself...everything else I've done has just been survival," I offered plainly as I started to calm back down.  
"No, you definitely have something to lose now. I wouldn't be taking this girl to a healer if you didn't agree with me. You just need to learn how to hold on to something once you've finally reached out to grasp it," Zee sagely countered, her logic easily skirting my defenses.

"Well, if I want in one hand and shit in the other, I'm pretty sure one hand is going to have plenty of open real estate. I've never been much of a fighter anyway," I mumbled as I remembered a small measure of the countless things I'd sacrificed or given up over the years because I'd been too afraid to fight for them.

Her smile widening, she clapped me on the shoulder as she replied, "For what it's worth, I don't believe you. Being completely honest here-I was actually a little aroused hearing you tell Master Rumiko to fuck off. Not to mention that a man simply doesn't get a beautiful scar like that playing it close to the chest. I'm willing to give it ten years to see if we can't work all that bitch out of you to see if the man underneath is worth looking at."

"Huh...you sure you just don't want to get laid?" I asked, returning her smile as I shrugged her clawed hand away from my shoulder to look at her playfully.  
"Maybe I do. With the way you seem to stumble into trouble like it was your damn job, I figure there's a chance I might run into the one that'll finally best me if I stick close to you," she said with a distant look.  
"I meant me!" I countered as I gave the notion a moment of serious thought.  
"Oh yeah? Well, that is _exactly_ the sort of thing I like to hear. You just say the word and you can challenge me any time you want. And because I like you, I promise I'll never go easy on you. Oh! That reminds me…" she said as she pulled out our contract and added something to it.  
"Hey! You can't do that!" I protested before curiosity got the better of me, "What did you write anyway?"  
"I just added an exception that allows me to give you a red-assed beating if you ever do work up the nerve to issue a challenge," she answered with a seductive wink.

"You might be surprised what I can do when I get motivated," I mumbled, already trying to imagine any scenario that would put those lips of hers against mine...or anywhere on my body for that matter.  
"I really hope so, Joe. Eyes on the prize already, hmm?" she teased, licking her lips as she did so.

To hell with that recent "no virgins" rule. This (allegedly) untarnished flower knew exactly what she was doing to me. I had no idea if I desired her simply by virtue of the fact that I couldn't have her or if her beauty had broken my reason, but I _really_ wanted this salamander.

Shaking off my lusting thoughts, I spoke up, "Yeah, uh...I should probably go. Tsukiko is giving me that look like she's reconsidering letting me go and I'd rather not be around when her mother wakes up."

Taking the sleeping fox girl gently with her, Azalea said, "I'll handle her and the council here. The princess might not like it, but she's going to be moving up in the world really quick. Anyway, make your way up the road towards the next town and I'll find you. You should be able to find a small trade outpost to get food before sundown if you hurry. Don't sleep too far off of the road and…"

As I watched Azalea seem to hesitate in her speaking for the first time, I gave her a small smile. I didn't _quite_ understand the beautiful, dusky warrior, but what I didn't know was only intriguing me further.

"I'll be careful," I reassured Zee with a smile as I quietly leaned in and also placed a gentle kiss upon the fox girl's forehead, "Thank her for me too when she wakes up...I didn't even find out her name."

"You'd better remedy that the next time you see her-and you will. That look in her eyes said pretty clearly that she'd follow you to the ends of the earth whether you asked or not. Not to mention that any whore would be lucky to land a girl like this. Anyway, be careful and I'll catch up with you right after I get this girl to a healer and work a few things out with my team," she said with a wave as she headed back towards the center of the town, possibly to coach Tsukiko on what to tell the village elders went down here.

Looking out on the well-traveled road with a new lease on a life and a modest pouch of _borrowed_ gold, I started walking.

I could feel at least one pair of eyes burning into me as I walked away, but it was too early to start looking back. Wearing a smile despite myself, I resolved to figure out if there really was some kind of fighter within me. The first hurdle would just be figuring out that special something for which I felt I needed to fight.

Even if the noblest goal I could conjure in that moment was bedding Azalea...it was a start.

-

"I know you can hear me, Jess! We need to have a word," Azalea shouted.

Propelling herself into Azalea's field of vision with a few beats of her large, feathery wings, a young harpy alighted on the ground near the annoyed salamander.

"Um….yeah, Zales?"  
"You know what I want to say, right?" Azalea asked as she tapped her foot impatiently.  
"You want to say 'great job taking out those first guards and keeping the reinforcements away', right?" the young girl with teal plumage said as she spun her sling for emphasis.

"While you were busy keeping the ants away from the picnic, did you notice that I almost died there waiting for you to drop my falchion? You know I don't like to wait around."  
"Oh no! Are you going to tell on me to the general?" the harpy replied with a fake sniffle, "I don't want to get triple guard duty again!"  
"Don't start with me, Jess," Zee interjected as she more angrily drew upon her kiseru.

"Wait...there's something I'm forgetting. Oh, that's right! The Legion is long gone so I just don't care, Zales. Made you look even better in front of your new boyfriend anyway," the harpy taunted, unable to hide a note of real anger.  
"I'm not in the mood for your shit, Jess. You completely ignored the plan. Luckily this might be the last time I have to deal with it. I'm out, tell the rest of the girls."  
"Oh, I heard. Ten-year honeymoon, huh? You going to kill this one like the last two?" Jess responded with a leap to the roof of a nearby house as though expecting retribution.  
"Fuck you," Azalea said simply in response.  
"People shouldn't use words they don't understand. If you were even half the warrior that your sister was, you wouldn't have needed help in the first place. Plus I doubt Dahlia would've let me get away with this!" Jess shouted as she leapt forward to bring a fierce kick across Azalea's face, breaking the salamander's kiseru and sending the pieces to the ground.

Barely able to hold on to the wounded fox she was carrying, Zee reeled from the blow but took no other action than to turn weary eyes back to the harpy as she regained her posture.

"You done?" Zee asked emotionlessly.  
Continuing to hover above the salamander, Jess answered in a superior tone, "Whatever. You aren't even worth the stone it would take to put you down for good. I almost hope to see you on the other side of a battlefield some time soon."  
"Seeing how much our old friendship means to you almost makes me feel the same way, Jess."  
"I just don't get you anymore! Keep the gold for this job. I don't even care," the harpy nearly pouted.  
"Take care, Jess," Azalea answered quietly as she continued walking.

Jetting into the sky on powerful wings, Jess answered, "I'm...sorry for kicking you. If we ever cross swords, I'll give you a free hit. Fire and Glory, flame sister."

The feathered girl then quickly sped towards the horizon, vanishing from Azalea's sight a few moments later.

"The council thanks you for your involvement, for sparing the lives of our sworn defenders, and also for agreeing to protect that man," a voice called out from the shadows.  
"A job is a job," Azalea answered as she doubled back to help drag the unconscious Rumiko towards her daughter, adding, "What was he saying about paying a single gold piece?"  
"Ah," the kunoichi began with a blush as she emerged from a nearby shadow, "Before the council realized this could be an opportunity to expose Mistress Rumiko, it was thought we'd have to let that man die. He wrote a request for you that we thought it best to...suppress due to its tone. He happened to have a single gold piece to offer in payment which was included."

Gently setting down her fluffy-tailed burden, Azalea looked to the kunoichi and almost demanded, "So...let me see it."  
"Yes, of course," the ninja girl said as she handed over the piece of rolled parchment along with a large satchel of coins.

As Azalea read the short letter, she made no attempt to restrain the smile that grew with each line.

"So, you can see why we decided to hold on to it and instead make a formal request," the kunoichi said with a slight bow.

Fishing into the large sack of nearly 1200 coins, Azalea pulled out a single gold piece and slid it into her pouch, handing the rest back to the now-confused ninja girl.

"Forget the gold. I want you to get me something else. There's a blacksmith named Medus far south of here. Tell him I need my father's crucible peregrine and a jay twin...with dragons. Tell him it's for a desert flower in a long autumn rain and he'll know where to send it," Azalea said as she looked off toward the northern road, the barest hint of a spark leaping from her tail as she did so.

"Ten years, hmm?"


	11. Chapter 11 - Minor Celebrity?

Chapter 11 - Minor Celebrity?

With my clothes in a state barely north of tatters and some very serious bruises across my entire midsection, the markings were apparently enough to ward off all but the most curious that I passed on the road. I did receive two offers for "rescue" and two propositions to which the only valid answer was "yes". Luckily, those two fine would-be rapists couldn't agree on who'd be going first and I was able to sneak away.

I was fighting pain with each step and managed to only _mostly_ exhaust myself by jogging the distance to the trading post that Zee mentioned. With a tired sigh of relief, I threw myself into the grass next to the building and stared into the late afternoon sky above. While the blessed wind eagerly dried the sweat from my body cooling me as it swept beneath my clothing like an affectionate lover, I listened to the sounds that came from the open windows of the nearby building as I enjoyed the simple feeling of the sun on my face.

Zee had suggested that the roads in the area were mostly safe. The trip down the road had all but convinced me that she was either entirely full of shit, testing me in some way, or simply unable to understand that her and I have two very different notions on what the word "safe" actually meant. Although it _did_ make me wonder if only two attempts at surprise sex was higher or lower than the island average.

Being just around the corner of the building and close to an open window, I could listen in on the nearby conversation with little difficulty. That the person doing business was quite loud certainly didn't hurt things.

"We got two more. Get your wife out here so we can deal," I heard a very gruff but female voice demand.  
"She's working in the back. If you want to deal then you can deal with me. Unless you want to find some _other_ trader that'll take hot merchandise off your hands," I heard a fairly young male voice reply.

Were they seriously dealing in some sort of illicit trade right on the main road? I was tempted to cover my ears before I unintentionally got myself marked for death again. I hadn't exactly been quiet in my approach. My damnable curiosity ended up winning out, as it often did, to my likely future detriment as I attempted to listen more closely.

"We could just make your wife watch as we take turns with that smug little body instead, so watch your tone," the husky voice growled back, the threat somehow seeming more formality than promise.  
"My apologies, most honored patrons! The South Teremir Mercantile apologizes that this pitiful human representative forgot his place. To atone for such a grievous misdeed, I will close the shop for the rest of the day...to meditate upon my own personal shame," the young voice came back with a tone that was far too earnest to be honest.  
"Don't be an ass, you know we're on the same team. Fine, what'll you give us for these two?" the deeper voice continued in question.

After the few moments in which I assumed the trader was giving these mystery items a thorough appraisal, I heard him answer, "The smaller one isn't very good quality. You cut this one out of the womb or something?"  
"What kind of monsters do you think we are? Nah, the only way we were able to catch the big one was to bring down her kid. Figured you might give us something for the smaller one anyway," I heard the patron answer as I consciously moved around the building so that I wouldn't be visible when she left.

"Sure, we can do...I'd say 800 for the small one. This other one though…" I heard the man's voice trail off as he hemmed and hawed while trying to come up with an offer. It was nearly a full minute before he spoke again with his offer on the mysterious goods, "Let's say...forty?"

With an angry huff, the patron shot back with her threatening attempt at a counter-offer, "See, it's that sort of thing that makes me want to pull your arms off. The going price was sixty last month and it's not like its getting any easier to find the damn things around here."  
"It was worth a try. I'll do fifty thousand but I'm cutting my own throat to offer that much. The rarity is keeping the price up but the demand isn't what it was two years ago," the man answered as I heard the sound of many large bags of coin moving outside my field of vision.

"Done. This has been getting to be too much trouble so we're finished trying to hunt these horns. We're going to be heading down to Amarante at the end of the week. This'll go a long way toward making that a nice vacation," the large female voice proclaimed, sounding satisfied.  
"It'll be a shame to lose your product, but I'm sure the organization will be more than pleased with how much you've done to advance our positions. My wife's cousin has a shop down in the Alnor markets if you fine ladies need any help spicing up that vacation," the man said.

There was no obvious reply to his last statement beyond a grunt as I heard the sound of a large quantity of coins being shuffled around, followed by the disgruntled protestations of a horse on the other side of the building as a wagon was being loaded. Something about this whole interaction was worrying me so I got to my feet and moved to peek around the other edge of the trading post, if only to lay eyes on the person or people I felt I should probably avoid.

Slowly making my way around the back of the building, I finally poked my head out from the far corner of the building. I saw only an unattended wagon tied to a single horse and no sign of whoever had been loading it.

"Maybe we can get that vacation started early!" I heard the gruff female voice call out from directly behind me.

Nearly jumping out of my skin, I quickly turned to see a towering mass of muscle leering down from directly before me. With a pair of large horns, cloven hooves for feet, and a bovine tail, I knew that this was some serious bull. Minotaurus, to be more specific, was the name that sprang to mind right behind a renewed desire to run.

Before I could fully commit to that desire, she quickly grabbed me and held me tightly with a single arm, pulling me against her side as I struggled to get free.

"Oooh, I think he likes me. Look at him just trying to get loose so he can get down to the fun!" the minotaurus said as she hurled me to ground.

Landing hard on my back with the wind knocked from me, I felt the additional sharp pain of my still-wounded ribs as the grass beneath me made no effort to cushion the fall. I was too dazed to even crawl away as her towering form stood above me. With a frightening grin, she began to roughly drag one of her hooves across my still-sore manhood.

"See? I can be gentle. Almost have to be with a twig like you. So, as long as you lay there nice and quiet, I promise I'll be extra nice to you. Those bruises from whoever got to you first are probably going to hurt, but you'll just have to tough it out."

Was this really to be my life? How many times was I going to be able to keep getting up before all of the fight had been kicked out of me? Assuming this massive woman didn't crush the life from me, the fact that this was going down near a main road next to an established business made me wonder if someone like her was even the worst thing I could have run into.

There was no point in resisting her as this looked like it was going to turn out the same way no matter what I did, the pain from nearly every movement I made driving that point home just a bit deeper. At least if I stayed still, I reasoned, she might not be as rough with me. I cursed my own weakness along with my body's involuntary fear response as my eyes lost their focus on the woman above me and wandered back into the sky that had been so comforting a moment ago.

"Enough foreplay. I've got a hole that needs filling and you're about as ready as you're going to get," the minotaurus said as she reached down to grasp at my pants.  
"Wait," I heard a small, unfamiliar voice call out from behind the hulking would-be rapist above me.  
"Come on! We've got time and he's all ready to go!" the minotaurus protested.

Stepping out from behind her much larger companion, I the distinct horns of a goblin on the otherwise childlike girl.

"Where are you heading?" she asked me with a genuine curiosity.  
"A town to the north of here. I don't even know what its called," I answered honestly, wondering if being dragged back to reality wouldn't just make this worse.

The goblin looked to be pondering over something as she took a long look at me. Roughly scratching at her own head for a few moments, she then looked up at her massive companion.

"You can get the next one. This one looks too weak and wounded to be any fun for you anyway. You'd probably break him in half before you squeezed anything out of him," the goblin said as she began pulling the much larger mamono away from me.  
"But...but…uahhh!" the large girl protested before she started crying almost immediately.  
"Don't be a baby. Once we make our last two deliveries we'll get you all nice and full, okay?" the goblin cooed in a comforting voice as she stroked the hair of the much larger woman, needing to pull her down to a knee to manage the feat.  
"O-okay…" the minotaurus said with a sniffle as she added in a failed attempt to sound threatening, "You got lucky this time! The next man I find is getting it twice as hard and it's all YOUR fault!"

Part of me wanted to wish this imaginary man well on his upcoming journey, but the rest of me wanted to know that there was some poor bastard out there that might end up having a worse day than me at some point in the future.

Stomping off in a huff toward the nearby wagon, the large woman's hooves actually shook the ground. A moment later I was pulled to my feet by the surprising strength of the goblin that had just saved me. I wasn't convinced I was out of the woods by a longshot, but at least it didn't seem like this girl wanted a taste of my man-batter.

"Why did-" I began before she cut me off.  
"Call it goblin intuition. Plus it'll be so much more fun this way. Be careful out there," the goblin said with a grinning wink.

Was it possible that both of the goblins I'd encountered so far somehow already knew me? Why the hell had I gotten the same knowing smile from both of them? What was it about those goblins that felt so damn familiar? And what could she have possibly meant by "this way" being more fun?

Interrupting my inner monologue, I heard the voice of the male shopkeeper call out to me, "Geez, I was sure the wife and I were going to get to have some fun while we watched you guys go at it. Anyway, if you're here to trade then hop to it, we'll be closing up soon."

"Uh...sure," I answered weakly slowly stood to make my way back around to the front of the building where he welcomed me inside.

My ability to react as I should have to the ordeal I'd just escaped seemed overly muted. I reasoned that a violent rape was still infinitely preferable to execution and it was hard to completely lose heart after managing to get clear of _that_ little hiccup.

The refreshing scent of various grains greeted me as I passed through the door of this well-appointed trading post. My nose also picked up the aroma of something far more enticing coming from deeper within the building, the scent of cooking food threatening to take over all of my thought processes.

I saw the walls and neat shelves covered in anything a traveler might want from coarse clothing to camping gear and all manner of rations. It looked like I wouldn't have any problems getting everything I needed to make the rest of this trip. That was assuming that I didn't stumble into the clutches of another bored or hungry mamono, not a bet I wanted to take.

I took a long look at the clothing selection for something warmer after reliving a technicolor memory of my first night in the woods. It shouldn't have been surprising that the small selection of clothing was almost exclusively cut for a female body, many with stylish accents to accommodate wings and/or tails.

I had something of a brainstorm as I followed the man towards the counter. Maybe there _were_ some things I could purchase to make this journey much easier. I just hoped I'd still have enough gold to keep myself from starving.

As the wonderfully oppressive scent of wood smoke and well-spiced food continued to press down upon me, I'm pretty sure I started to drool as I stood there in the middle of the room.

"Looks like someone took a club to you pretty good. I'm surprised you managed to get away from whoever raped you with you the first time," the man offered in a hollow conciliatory tone.  
"The last one was consensual. Forget about that, though. I need food and some supplies," I mumbled, trying to change the subject.  
"We aren't a charity. I assume you have gold to pay?" the man said as he crossed his arms doubtfully.

"I've got plenty," I countered with certainty, "I need rations to last five days, a fair-sized pack, a sturdy blanket...some other things..." I rattled off, unintentionally blushing at my last request.  
"You can't be thinking of heading back out today. It'll be dark soon," the man answered in disbelief.

"I don't have much of a choice. Someone is waiting for me, and-no offense-but I don't think I'd be entirely comfortable staying with some black market dealer."  
"Oh, you heard that? It's nothing as bad as all that, really. Most unicorns aren't using their horns anyway and one vial of that powdered horn can save a dozen lives-more if a skilled alchemist works it into a mermaid blood tonic. With the war to the south, we're just trying to do our part to help reduce some of the casualties," he rambled in a well-rehearsed manner.

Curious if I could start getting some market perspective, I asked, "Why are they so valuable?"  
He crossed his arms, seeming delighted to be treated as an equal as he answered, "Truth be told, the horn isn't anywhere near as useful or renewable as mermaid blood. Don't have to kill the fish to get their blood, after all. It's always been valuable because of its rarity but around two years ago the price went through the roof."

I really didn't like entertaining the thought that anyone was profiting from the actual death of others. With little to nothing I could do about it, however, I pushed forward with my line of questions.

"Seems sort of strange without a real reason, doesn't it?"  
"That's the thing! Nobody knows where all that powdered horn went. There were rumors about some attempt to corner the market, that Charisse herself had bought it all up in preparation for that war, or even that some crazy alchemist had come up with some sort of miracle tonic, but nothing ever materialized. It's like the stuff just completely vanished," he went on excitedly.

Well, none of that information was valuable on its own and there was no chance I'd go hunting unicorns in a sick attempt to cash in. That he had been so willing to purchase those horns worried me about the sort of person he and his wife were, but those concerns were limping behind a desire to sleep somewhere other than the ground once night fell.

Seeing my frequent glances toward the back room, he smiled a bit as he continued, "Actually, if you don't mind paying a very modest fee, my wife and I could get you a hot meal and a warm place to sleep tonight. It's a lot safer to travel during the day...believe me," he answered with a pained look as he seemed to recall his own experiences.

The last time I'd accepted kindness, I'd found myself marching to the executioner's block over some convoluted bullshit. The reality, however, was that I was still very hungry, painfully sore, and almost completely exhausted. The most reassuring thing about his proposal, strangely enough, was that he wasn't offering anything for free.

"It's just you and your wife here?" I asked.  
"That it is. We've been married for just about six months and we couldn't be happier," he answered brightly.  
"So then there's no chance of her trying to get a piece of me?" I inquired seriously.  
"Not a chance," he boasted, obviously proud of that fact.  
"How much, then?" I asked, ready to accept any reasonable offer.  
"Five gold for the food and the bed, and I'll get you the supplies you requested in the morning for another ten," he offered without a thought before catching himself and adding, "Though you'd need to be a bit more specific about what those 'other things' are, I'm sure we can work something out."  
"Well, let's call it a deal on the first part if you've got that food ready right now, and while we're eating we'll see about those other things," I said with a nod, eagerly accepting his offer.

After a firm handshake, the man lead me towards the back of the building and the promise of a hot meal to fill the screaming void. I was lead into a smaller side room that appeared as a kitchen doubling as a dining room, with a stone floor, cushioned bamboo furniture, and a large stove that looked like it had been some sort of forge in another life.

"Dear! You should have told me we would be having a guest," I heard a sweet feminine voice playfully scold the man as she handed him a large wooden bowl filled with a thick soup full of noodles, local vegetables, and (probably) chicken.  
After handing me the bowl, he threw his hands up in surrender as he answered her, "Sorry Rini, he didn't look like he should be wandering the roads at night. Don't worry, he's a paying guest."

I ignored the nearly scalding heat and downed nearly half of the delicious soup as the two of them spoke, the woman finally stepping before me to give a slight bow, "As you have heard, my name is Rini and this is my husband Jeremy."

After hastily swallowing the mouth of food, I returned her bow, "My name is Joseph. Thank you for allowing me into your home."

The woman that stood before me had bright brown eyes and flowing silky brown hair that framed a delicate smiling face. She appeared almost completely human aside from a pair of rounded furry ears close to the top of her head and a large, striped furry tail.

I found myself badly wanting to touch that tail for some reason as I wondered if my recent and numerous mental traumas had somehow awakened a raccoon fetish.

"Ah!" she exclaimed once she got a closer look at me, "Oh, you look so familiar but I can't seem to recall where we might have met. Since you have paid my wonderful husband, you are most certainly welcome. Think of this as your own home this evening."

She gestured to a chair at the table, inviting me to sit. As I slumped into the chair however, the pouch I carried made a sound far different than the one I was expecting as it came to rest on the cushion below me. I might not have even noticed if the texture hadn't also felt strange as I accidentally sat upon it. Neither of my hosts seemed to notice as a fearful shiver ran up my spine. My hand darted to the pouch as I tried to hide the action by adjusting myself in the seat.

Rini sent only a momentary look of curiosity over my reaction as she turned back to smile at her husband.

As my hand slipped into the pouch, I didn't find the gold I knew I'd been carrying but only a handful of small pebbles. While my mind flashed back through any place I could have lost my coin, I settled on the goblin that had helped me to my feet.

"More fun indeed," I silently cursed.

Having already finished the first bowl of soup and watching as a second was placed before me, I started to get more than a vague inkling that being unable to pay these people could turn into a serious problem.

As I had begun to fidget in my seat, Jeremy thankfully misread my nervousness as a reluctance to talk about those "other things" I had briefly mentioned.

Leaning in a bit closer to me he finally spoke, "So, either you're really embarrassed about those 'other things', or what you're looking for isn't exactly...legal?"  
Hoping to find a way to gracefully transition the conversation to the fact that I'd been robbed of the gold that I'd been planning to use to pay them, I swallowed hard before answering, "Well, I'm not certain if I can afford any more than we already agreed upon, and maybe it was a silly idea, but...human women don't get attacked on the road as often as men, do they?"

Already figuring out what I was suggesting, he sat back as he answered, "I thought you were lingering on those clothes a little longer than normal. Not a bad question, really. Rini?"

Joining us at the table as she sat delicately in her chair, Rini took her cue, "Dressing yourself up as a woman certainly couldn't hurt, unless you continue to cling to foolish ideas like pride. It would certainly fool any mamono with a weak nose or that wasn't paying much attention. My darling husband here was actually trying the same thing when we met."

"So then I guess the disguise didn't work that well?" I asked, feeling defeated.  
"I am not the least bit sad to say that it did not. In my darling husband's case, I picked up his scent before I ever saw him so the disguise did him no good. I doubt you'd hear him complain about the outcome now," she said, her face showing the first signs of that all familiar lust.

"Nevermind then," I sighed, resigning myself to the very real possibility that getting across the continent, or even to the next town, was going to be harrowing at best.

"Now, now...there's no reason to be so upset. That doesn't mean there aren't _other_ ways you could get a lot less attention as you travel," my too-kind hostess said as she consoled me.  
"Wait, we really shouldn't be selling that. Plus there's no way he could afford-" Jeremy began, looking strangely distressed.  
With a devious look leaping to her eye that gave me a chill, Rini cut her husband off as she leaned forward to stare at me, "I just remembered where I've seen you, Joseph."

"O-oh yeah?" I stammered, trying to remain calm.  
"Dear, has Joseph already paid you the amount upon which you agreed for the evening?" Rini asked her husband, her eyes not leaving me as if she was daring me to look away.  
"It's not like it's a huge sum. I figured we'd settle up in the morning," he answered, now also looking a bit nervous.

Suddenly abandoning all pretense of the kind hostess, Rini calmly stood and approached me as I looked to Jeremy for some attempt to save me from what I thought was about to happen. She reached down towards my lap...only to come away with my pouch. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief before I realized what she was probably going to find within it.

"Now, Joseph," she began, sounding almost cruel as she continued, "I think we may need to renegotiate the terms you set down with my husband."

For emphasis she tossed the pouch into the air slightly before catching and then viciously squeezing the leather bag, the visual effect of the seams straining to hold together making me feel as though I'd just been kicked in the stomach.

Confident that she'd made her point, she continued, "If I were to open this pouch and find it did not contain enough gold to pay what you agreed for the services that you have already begun to enjoy, I would be forced to extract payment in another way that you would certainly not enjoy. It occurs to me, however, that we could help each other. If you were to agree to such an arrangement, I could simply hand this pouch back to you and think no more on it."

She had me over a barrel, and the look on her face told me that she was eminently aware of that fact. I didn't really have a choice but to see what she had to offer.

Taking a deep breath to calm my urge to instantly accept whatever she was going to pitch, I nodded as I replied, "What are you offering?"

Smiling as she sent a scheming look at me, she answered, "On hand, we happen to have a flask of the mystical waters from a...special spring. Drinking these waters would make your disguise _far_ more convincing. It is nearly impossible to sell as more than a novelty as few mamono would have a reason to let their mate drink such a thing. The effects are temporary as well, rarely lasting more than a week."

I couldn't figure out her angle. She knew I couldn't pay for the little I'd already requested. Did she think she was going to squeeze blood from a stone?

"That's great and all, but it doesn't sound cheap. I have...very limited funds at the moment," I anxiously stated, hoping to hurry her pitch along.

"Oh, but there is more. These roads are very dangerous and would be far worse if it was known that a man were traveling them alone. As a kindness, I'll also throw in a special insurance policy with your agreement to ensure that you are not accosted by any mamono with whom I happen to correspond," she hinted with her look turning somehow more treacherous.

I was getting tired of her rubbing in just how screwed I was. The mob-style protection racket was a nice touch, however.

"I get it, really. Stop dancing around the point and tell me what you want," I restated, getting impatient at the mountain of stress being thrown upon me.

"It's not unexpected for a person, even one of means, to be traveling with very little gold. The exchange rate is the real killer here, but you need only sign this Teremir marque of sale with our agreed upon price and I'll make certain that it is delivered and honored in Alnor. You understand?"

The way she was speaking told me she thought I was born yesterday or had no idea how credit worked. The distressing thing was that if she _could_ have such a contract honored in Alnor, it certainly wouldn't be me footing the bill. She'd made it very clear that there wasn't going to be an alternative, however.

"As much as I'd like to ask you to dumb it down a little more for me, let's just assume I understand. You still haven't given me a price," I expressed with a growing impatience.

Undeterred in offering me this deal of a lifetime, she sighed, "Such deals are meant to be savored, but it seems I am making you uncomfortable. The enchanted waters would normally cost about a hundred. With the other supplies you requested and what will be a sorely needed change of clothes, regardless of a decision to actually drink said water, we'd come to about one hundred fifty. Including the insurance, discrepancies in the exchange rate, and...convenience fee, let us say...oh, an even twenty thousand gold pieces."

My first instinct was to hit her in the face. I knew that was the wrong call. My second instinct was to attempt to haggle, but that tactic promised to be about as successful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. She knew as well as I did that there was no way I could refuse this deal. My third instinct was to look into getting new instincts at the next town.

I yielded and gave a small, tired nod.

With a speed and precision that suggested there might never be a need for movable type presses in this world, she penned a quick agreement. She looked it over and handed it to me with a smile, her face returning to the lie that was the caring hostess.

Everything in it was exactly as she said up to and including a clause against her effectively selling me out. At least blackmail and extortion were fun new items on the growing list of indignities I'd been forced to endure. Hoping that this document would be torn up upon receipt or paid by an inattentive account manager, I signed my name and returned the parchment.

"I must say, that painting simply doesn't do you justice, Joseph," she said as she shook my hand, her genuine smile returning shortly after.  
"Must have been my bad side," I muttered, not sure what painting she could be talking about and not in the mood to find out.  
"Dear, fetch the items on this list and a hundred gold pieces," Rini said with a gentle touch on her husband's arm.  
"Uh...okay," he said as he vanished back into the other room.

Now looking much more relaxed, she leaned back in her chair as she whispered to me, "I'm really sorry about that. I think we both know that you'd have made me a similar offer, however, if you'd been in my position...assuming what I've heard is true."

That was something I couldn't honestly answer. I might have gouged a _little_ , but this just seemed excessive. The almost instant change in her demeanor made it seem like she was actually challenging me to create such an opportunity at some point in the future.

Grabbing my pouch back from her, I responded with a frown, "You know I actually did have the coin on me until your goblin friend decided to fuck me harder than the minotaurus was planning to."

Running her fingers through her hair to straighten it slightly, she looked back to me as she declared, "I believe you, and I apologize. That won't unsign this contract, however, and you should know that we will never break any deal that was made while in our true form."

That made some strange kind of sense, but it remained just one more among the pile of various "useful" facts that kept rattling around in my head.

"Of _course_. A deal is a deal, after all," I voiced, probably failing to completely hide my anger at this turn of events.  
"Things outside the big city a bit rough on you? You could always go home and beg your-"

I silenced her with a wave as I protested, "Look, I really don't want to talk about anything you might have heard about me. If I can get to the next town, there's someone there that can protect me."  
"I had truly hoped for some...stimulating conversation, but it would be rather immature of me to demand anything further from you. Would you like some more to eat?" she asked, thankfully dropping the subject.  
"For what I just paid, you'll be lucky if I don't eat the fucking table too," I announced as I handed her my empty bowl.

The short remainder of the evening passed with light chatter composed almost entirely of conversational topics that suggested that none of us were actually interested in conversation. After a dry chat on the weather in Charisse turned into an even less interestingly relevant talk about the best grooming product to properly maintain a fluffy tail (it's lamia oil), I turned in early to catch up a bit on some much needed rest.

Jeremy had prepared what I requested along with the questionable "magic water" that would allegedly almost completely obscure my essence from any mamono I might encounter on my journey to the nearby village. I was also handed the hundred gold Rini requested, contained in a far more secure pouch than the one I had been carrying, as a small advance on the very large payout authorized in my name.

Laying on a simple mat as I stared at an unfamiliar ceiling, my body's exhaustion made finding sleep no easier. There were too many things I didn't know and too many others I accepted without argument.

If that letter of credit I signed made its way to Alnor, then wouldn't it alert those mamono Miranda warned me about? Could I even trust that witch in the first place? Why was I so unwaveringly _certain_ that Rini would uphold her end of the bargain?

My stream of endless questions was blessedly broken by not-so-hushed words exchanged in the room next to mine.

"How do you know that he's the guy?" I heard Jeremy's voice mumble.  
"I just know. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"  
"Something isn't right with him! Starla and Miksny would never turn down a free meal, and they let him go? He also looks like he got worked over by a lamia and there's no way one of those snakes would ever let a mate get free," Jeremy insisted.

"So you're jealous?" I heard Rini's voice ask more loudly than the rest of the conversation so far.  
"You're all I have, Rini. I saw the way you looked at him and it wasn't the way you look at me."

"If that's true then why am I here with you and not trying to seduce him? Hmm?"  
"Maybe you believe all that crap your cousin told you, or you're afraid of that undead, or-"  
"Or?" Rini interjected playfully, adding, "Or maybe none of those things matter. You're the one I chose, and Lords know I didn't have to. I could have left you wandering down the road in drag and a horrible makeup job but I knew you were the one I'd been looking for."

Mumbling his reply after several moments of silence, Jeremy spoke again, "Then what do you really see in him?"  
"He's dangerous. As much as I love Sadie, she should have been mucking stables for a century, maybe even in chains, after she wagered her entire livelihood on that first market travesty. Instead she gets to rub it in our faces that we still can't afford to move to a real city after she was handed a million-gold tip for nothing?"  
"Oh, I didn't know you were going to just make my point for me. You need me to ask the question again? Nobody would give that sort of information away without a good reason. Someone else has to be pulling the strings and we don't want to get involved," Jeremy stated with a palpable worry coating his words.  
"We're so close, dear!" I heard Rini exclaim far more loudly, "One more big deal and we can buy our way out of South Teremir! You deserve a better life than this, Jeremy, and I'll never be able to give it to you while we're stuck under their heel! Don't you want a home of our own?"  
"Looking down to see you in my arms is home, Rini. Nothing else matters."

Wondering how their conversation had gotten quite so sappy, I moved my hand to scratch an itch on my face and realized that I was crying. Pouring from me in a great quantity, I couldn't stop the unexplained tears for several minutes.

If my memories were truly gone, then this strange sort of reflex didn't make any sense. Despite no conscious thoughts on the matter, some part of what Jeremy said seemed familiar to me in a way I couldn't explain or understand.

How was I supposed to find out who I really was if people kept trying to "remind" me? With their motives at least clear enough to put a damper on my worries, I hoped that my hosts wouldn't be overly troubled when they found me gone in the morning. I expected they might have expected that outcome anyway, having generously prepared my supplies so far in advance.

That just left me with a difficult decision to make as I stared at the phial of enchanted water. It was temporary and I couldn't really think of any other potential downside-not that I'd asked after any. Drinking it had to be the right call, didn't it? If it failed, I'd feel mighty ridiculous in the warm but overly revealing women's clothing into which I had already changed as I readied to leave.

Clutching the bottle in hand, I blessed the quiet sliding door that allowed me to slip silently into the crisp night air. I was still hurt and tired, but those were known quantities I felt I could deal with on my own.

As I put some distance between myself and the building, I could hear the loving embrace of the two lovers within as it slowly escalated toward something far more heated and passionate. I wondered how much of their conversation had been exclusively for my benefit but decided that the most likely answer was that they simply didn't care if I'd heard.

After getting about a hundred meters from the trade outpost, I removed the stopper from the bottle, took one last look down at myself while mouthing a silent prayer that this would truly be temporary, and finally downed the bottle's contents.


	12. Chapter 12 - Why Didn't I Get Shoes?

Chapter 12 - Why Didn't I Get Shoes to Match This Outfit?

After a rush of dizzying queasiness throughout my entire body, I was left standing in the field exactly as I was a moment before. The only thing that seemed to have changed was that the pain from my broken ribs had vanished completely. Some exploratory pokes later found my bones miraculously mended.

Relieved yet strangely disappointed all at once, I considered changing back into my horribly damaged prisoner's clothing before deciding that any potential shame that might be had from being seen in women's attire would certainly pale before the situation that saw it torn from me.

"Fuck it," I mumbled aloud as I started walking, hoping to at least find a decent place to camp for the evening.

The terrain that surrounded me was woefully bereft of any substantial gathering of trees or any place that seemed to offer any concealment. Dark shapes that passed above me on more than one occasion also had me seriously doubting the wisdom of setting out at night. Far from the road, the journey was quiet, at least.

After another hour of wandering around the steeply rolling landscape, I finally came within sight of a place that looked nearly perfect to make camp. Winding through the foothills, a rambling stream had pooled into a small lake within a sheltered valley. Even better, the small valley had allowed a modest lake to form and the many trees of a loose forest covered the entire area.

I _wanted_ to jump in place and clap. What I actually did was barely restrain the urge to sprint for the edge of the trees. The relative safety of the leafy ceiling above me quickly began working as a powerful soporific, my eyelids feeling as though weights had been tied to them as I started to fumble with my bag.

Withdrawing and throwing out my bedroll on a soft patch of moss just inside the treeline, I wasted no time burying myself in my blanket against the evening chill as I tried to reason through why Rini would have even given me that enchanted water. It didn't make sense. Why would they have sold me something that would heal my wounds after suggesting that this miraculous spring water would help hide me, especially after Jeremy had gone into how valuable healing agents could be? I was convinced that I'd already be sporting a definitive lack of man parts.

Not sure how I still had any pride left to sacrifice upon the altar of my stupid decisions, I managed to blush at how eager I'd been to test out the effects. I realized that neither Rini or Jeremy had _actually_ suggested that this water would change me in any way or really that it was anything more than plain water. That it had healed me seemed an odd side effect that I simply couldn't explain in the absence of any other effect.

With my exhaustion convincing me that it was time to give up on agonizing over what that water actually did, I passed into the first night of truly peaceful slumber since being stripped of my memories.

-

As the sun slowly tickled me awake, its golden rays only tentatively peeking through the leaves of the eucalyptus tree above me, I groggily threw off my blanket to heed nature's very insistent call. Apparently the water _had_ done something in making certain I would awaken with a painfully full bladder.

As I sat up on the bedroll my face nearly collided with a tiny girl that had been fluttering over me. With a flowing white gown over her tiny form, the purple-eyed, blue-haired girl seemed to be staring at me, just a scant few centimeters from my face.

"Ahh!" I shouted in alarm at the startling sight.  
"Eeek!" came her shrieking response.  
"Ahh!" I exclaimed again, nearly jumping out of my skin again when she screamed in my face.  
"I'm sorry! It probably looks horrible without the hat!" she nearly yelled, perhaps deciding that this was to be the accepted volume for this conversation.

I rapidly moved to slide back away from her and found that my clothing had been entirely changed. Somehow, while I'd slept, I'd gone from wearing a somewhat revealing, fur-lined peasant's dress to a full-on Victorian-inspired gothic affair, complete with a corset that I was only now realizing in my excitement was making it impossible to take a deep breath.

The dress itself was a long, flowing black and scarlet number with strategic frills and ribbons in various places. It was cut low enough at the top to verify what I'd suddenly had reason to dread. There was significantly more going on in my chest area than there otherwise should have been, assuming I'd still been male.

"W-what did you do to me?!" I gasped, clutching at my throat when my voice came out entirely wrong.

In response to the question, the tiny, gossamer-winged girl hid herself behind the matching wide-brimmed hat she'd been carrying and landed at the end of the bedroll.

"You don't like it?" I heard the small voice sorrowfully query from beneath the large piece of millinery.

I was absolutely dumbfounded on how to answer that question or if that question was even relevant to the situation in which I'd found myself. The biggest concern for the moment, however, was how I could relieve my bladder.

"I...don't know yet. You need to help me take this off or something though. My bladder is going to explode if I don't go soon," I quickly added.

"Okay…" the small girl called back despondently.

After several more minutes of buttons being undone all the way up the back of this ridiculously fancy dress, I was finally free to the relative captivity of a silken slip, garters, and some panties that I _knew_ I hadn't been wearing.

"Um…" I began as I nearly hopped from one leg to another, "could you help me with this? I don't want to get these clothes dirty and I've never done this...uh...outside before," I finished, hoping that might cover for the reality of the situation for now.

The fairy seemed to brighten up at that and helped me get situated so that I wouldn't make a mess. I still hesitated a moment as I stared down at the lack of protruding flesh that I'd taken for granted for as long as I could remember. Thankfully, nature was calling far too loudly to worry about those concerns now as I took care of business in some nearby bushes, the fairy handing me a piece of my old tattered clothing to save me the further indignity of needing to drip dry.

After pulling the too-comfortable undergarments back into place and pacing around my bedroll for several minutes, I looked at the fairy as I tried to figure out what I was going to say. I tried to cross my arms before realizing that wasn't going to work as I intended so I settled for putting my hands on my hips as I looked up at the sky.

"I just...don't know what to say. Did you change my clothes while I was asleep?" I asked honestly, still not quite used to the voice that was coming out of me.  
"That outfit you had on before was terrible! You were falling out of it, it doesn't complement your skin tone, and you didn't even have any underwear! I thought you'd be happy…" she trailed off with the hint of a sniffle.

I was still rather grumpy having to deal with all of this so early in the morning, but I didn't want to upset this fairy. Even ignoring what she might have been able to do to me with potentially crazy magic, getting angry at her now when she thought she was helping just seemed a bit cold.

"Well, don't you think that was a bit much for traveling? I need to get to a town to the north and it doesn't look all that easy to move in," I offered.  
"Oh, not at all!" she jumped back, suddenly excited again, "One of my spider friends made it special just for you and it's actually perfect for walking. Just try it once and see!"  
"Wait...how did she make it special just for me? Wouldn't she have had to make the whole thing in a couple hours?" I inquired, still trying to work the sleepiness out of my head.  
"I kept you asleep for two days because the change was making you scream out from the pain. Oh! Um...I saw your man parts before they vanished, so I'm sorry for peeking," she excitedly explained, seeming a bit embarrassed as she finished.  
"Two days!? I'm supposed to meet someone there!" I answered with a start, ignoring the rest of what she'd said.

Again retreating beneath the hat, the fairy peeked out at me and answered apologetically, "I'm sorry...I can take those clothes back if you really don't want to wear them. I was just hoping...nevermind."

Feeling guilty, I picked up the hat and looked down at the nearly crying girl, "Look, it isn't your fault and a lot worse could have happened if you hadn't been here. If you saw my...'man parts' then you have to know that this is a lot more than I'm used to. Plus I doubt I could even afford something so fancy."  
"Don't worry about that. Dressing up can be fun! I also thought you might be heading to Yuanxi and that's where I'm supposed to meet up with a few of my sisters. I thought that maybe…" she trailed off meaningfully.  
"You want to come with me?" I stated simply.  
"That would be wonderful!" she said as she flitted back into the air in front of me.

I figured that, given what this fairy could have done to me while I was out, there was no reason to doubt her motives. Having company would probably help pass the time anyway. As weird as this morning had been already, I didn't think it would be a problem to have her along.

The transformation was already done and I just had to pray that it truly would be temporary. It didn't seem likely that mamono would sell something that was permanent. It just seemed to run counter to what so many of them were so interested in getting their hands (or other parts) on. That reasoning was enough to calm me down a bit with the added assurance that if there was a magical way to go one direction, there had to be a way to go the other direction as well.

With some assistance from the nearby stream, I was able to get a look at myself. I was worried that I'd just end up looking like my sister but whatever magic was in that water had changed me far more than that. I was the slightest bit disappointed to see myself as anything less than a complete knockout, the face staring back at me probably rating only a seven on my scale.

The body was a different story, however, with my normally slender frame having softened around the edges with the chest and hip area gaining a great deal of additional curviness. With the fairy watching me, I resisted the urge to do a detailed examination. I was still feeling breezes in places that shouldn't have been there and my center of gravity was...somewhere else. If this kept me safe from any more assaults, however, none of that strangeness would matter.

"You promise you're not going to do anything weird to me?" I asked as I narrowed my eyes slightly.  
"I promise! My name is Dewdrop," she answered joyfully as she flew figure eights in the air.  
"My name is Joseph, but I guess that won't work for now," I began as I thought of an alternative, "I always really liked the name Arianwyn, so call me that...or Ari. Okay Dewdrop, help me get that thing back on...it's a little chilly," I finished as I decided that glorified underclothes, no matter how stylish, weren't going to cut it.

As I said the name I'd chosen, I involuntarily shivered as my skin took on the look of gooseflesh. I wrote it off as the chill in the morning air and shook it off as I got dressed with Dewdrop's assistance.

The girl hadn't been lying. The damn thing fit like a glove and walking wasn't any more difficult than normal. I'd have been in some trouble if I need to sprint anywhere, but the entire purpose of that damn enchanted water to hopefully ensure that such a thing wouldn't be needed for a while. The corset I could have done without, but it really did pull the whole thing together.

We set out towards the north, coming back onto the road and managing to make up some time by catching a ride on a quick-moving trade caravan that was heading our way. I offered a few gold in payment to ensure that we wouldn't need to handle any chores or guard duty.

By the second day, I had noticed two very distinct things.

The first was that the only notice I got from passing mamono was curiosity over the clothes I was wearing, many asking what seamstress had crafted them. Dewdrop thankfully fielded those questions for me, telling the many curious mamono that they'd been made by a Penelope Duskweaver. I couldn't say I was entirely happy in this body, but the lack of sexual advances was so refreshingly wonderful that Rini's deal didn't seem nearly as bad.

The other thing I noticed, however, was that my libido hadn't shrunk in the least as a result of the transformation. On the contrary, it seemed that even coming into brief contact with some of the mamono we encountered was making me almost dangerously horny. I pushed those thoughts as far from my mind as I could, the task made somewhat easier by the thought that there was no way I'd go exploring this new body while other people were around.

On the third day, we finally arrived at our destination.

The town of Yuanxi was absolutely gorgeous, the residents seeming to have all made the conscious decision to live alongside nature rather than on top of it. While some of the architecture seemed similar to the village in which I'd almost taken my last breath (I later learned that place was called Warabi), the buildings here looked as if they were added to carefully accentuate the beauty of the place rather than to distract from it.

Sunlight spilled through the loose canopy above to leave golden highlights throughout the place in kaleidoscopic patterns that slowly shifted with the tranquil breeze. Perhaps in an attempt to drive the point home further, I saw an attractive spider girl within the city literally stop to smell roses.

While the guards on the road appeared, on the surface, as though they barely even acknowledged our passing, the subtle movement of their eyes declared that they were still vigilant.

"Excuse me," I said politely as I approached one of the guards, "If it isn't too much trouble, could one of you kindly point me in the direction of an inn?"

Smiling as she snapped out of her faux stupor, the two-tailed cat girl approached, "Of course, do you see that building waaaay over there?" she asked as she placed her cheek against mine, ostensibly so I could see where she was pointing.

"That's the inn?" I asked, feeling the tiniest bit uncomfortable, not at the guard's contact but at the feeling of two questioning sets of eyes upon me.  
"No, that's my house. Isn't it pretty? The inn is the first building on the right," the guard answered playfully.  
"Okay, Ari...I'm going to go find my friends!" Dewdrop said as she streaked off toward the inn.  
"You can head in if you'd like, miss. You smell just fine," the guard said as she moved back to her position and waved me through the gate.

As I came into the very busy inn, I was immediately greeted by a bow from the proprietress who then gave me a smile as she looked over my attire. I was put off a bit by her striped tail as some very recent bad memories were given new life. It also had the effect of all but completely convincing me that this woman was another smiling devil out to run me through a hellish ringer.

"Welcome to the Resplendent Lotus," the still attractive danuki said as she used her eyes to gesture to the busy room behind her, "I am Xiaojing and this is my establishment. We can provide all you could want to eat or drink, it is another matter if you are seeking a bed, however."

"Are you completely full?" I asked, the sadness written on my face as I felt my fantasies of a night of sleep on something other than the hard ground started to wither before the cold stare of an uncaring reality.

"Not entirely full, no. We have one empty bed left in a shared room. The single male guest paid a premium to ensure that I would only allow another human to share it," she answered with her gaze seeming to falter just a bit.

It made sense to me that a human male would have paid a little extra to make sure that his roommate wasn't a mamono with an overamped libido. I'd have done the same thing in his position if I wasn't so expertly disguised.

"The cost for the single bed is ten gold per evening. Food and drink is not included in the price of the room but is still quite reasonable."

"Are there some fairies staying here?" I asked out of a curiosity that apparently sounded more like doubt.  
Assuming I was trying to barter, Xiaojing quickly interjected, "I know! Fine...make it five gold."  
"Are they being unfriendly to the other patrons?" I asked, worried that I'd just added to the problem.  
"Far from it. They are quite possible the most sociable and polite guests I have ever hosted at this inn. Few people, however, can handle fairies in such quantity for any length of time," she answered, calming my worries.  
"Done, I suppose. I'm not certain how long I'll be staying but have you seen a large, dark-skinned salamander pass through?" I asked, hoping my delay hadn't caused me to miss her.

"I haven't seen anyone like that," Xiaojing confessed.  
"Then I guess I'll start with three nights, is that acceptable?" I asked as I pulled the gold free from the pouch.  
"Certainly! I'd show you to the room but we are rather busy at the moment. Here is the key for you, however. Just give me a wave if you need anything."

"Actually, what's the damage for dinner and some sort of wine?" I asked the danuki before she could slink off to sacrifice babies or whatever these women did when nobody was looking.

"Two for the food, five for a good bottle of local rice wine," she said without thinking.  
"Then here's ten. Make mine spicy if you could, please." I said as I handed over the coin.

"I appreciate your patronage. There should be some empty seats near wall just left of the stairs. Oh, your room is the suite on the top floor. I'd also try to be careful talking to that man as he seemed a little...off."  
"Thanks for the warning, I guess," I replied, wondering what sort of person he might be and suddenly concerned over an entirely different kind of sexual encounter.

Several minutes later I was digging into a deliciously spicy plate of unidentifiable meat and stir-fried vegetables. I kept my eyes on the door and the crowded room around me, hoping my bodyguard might appear at any moment. I wondered if this might be the only chance I'd ever have to be in such a place without drawing every eye in the room. Perhaps it was my untended libido thinking for me, but I found myself almost missing the attention.

As I finished my meal, Dewdrop actually seemed to appear from nowhere, the small fairy sitting on my lap.

"Hey, Ari! Since most of my sisters are here now, a few of us were going to come down and see if anyone wants to play. We could play some music if you want to dance or sing along," the friendly sprite offered with a beaming smile.

"Thanks, but after I've finished eating I think I'm going to turn in early. I need to see if I can find my friend as soon as possible," I calmly replied as I sipped at the wine I'd been given.

A moment later, I heard a sound that reminded me of a toddler attempting to roar like a lion and then a different fairy-like voice screaming out louder than should have been possible, " **Hey! Listen!** "

Turning my head toward the source of the demand, I smiled almost as a reflex and barely managed to stifle a series of giggles.

Floating in the air, no bigger than a large stuffed animal, was another tiny girl in an oversized dress with a head of sparkling green hair, elongated ears, and a rapidly fluttering pair of gossamer wings holding her aloft. She had her cheeks puffed in anger and was leaned forward slightly with her hands balled into fists.

"That's better! Now...watch this!" she said excitedly as everyone in the room inexplicably did as commanded by the tiny figure.

She then made a clumsy cartwheel in the air, finishing by throwing her hands toward the ceiling as she released a brightly glittering dust over the entire room. As the glitter fell like stars from the sky into the hair, food, and drinks of everyone assembled, the tiny figure beamed with a smile that seemed too large for her face.

"Happy sundown, everyone!" she screamed as if "sundown" was a holiday that only came once a decade.

As the rest of the patrons in this common room exchanged varying looks ranging from complete confusion to boiling rage, the fairy fluttered down to sit on the table in front of me.

"This is a tough crowd," she lamented, oblivious to the silence and the looks now focused on her.

Crawling her way from the table to sit on my lap next to Dewdrop, the unfamiliar fairy took what must have been a needed rest after her forty-one seconds of exertion.

"Huh? Do I have something on my face?" the fairy asked nervously as she wiped her brow, unintentionally smearing the glitter that had been stuck to her hands all over her small face. "Did I get it?"

Even after calming down, the fairy's continued behavior was simply too much to hold back the laughter that had been struggling to make its way free. The near-instant reaction around the room as I lost my composure was to join in the raucous laughter, with the rest of the reactions all seeming to be a forgiving of whatever offense the fairy had committed.

As the two fairies lounged about on my lap a pair of mamono moved a bit closer to me.

"So I hear you're a human. You have a mate?" a slightly dark-skinned elf asked me.  
"Oh...sort of? I think we're just friends," I answered, considering my relationships with the Zee and the unidentified fox girl.

"He doesn't put out like he should, right? I know how that is. Men are all just about worthless. My husband can't stand being around our girls. I wouldn't even complain if he wasn't also worthless in bed," the elf grumbled back.

Clapping the elf on the shoulder, an attractively rounded orc shook her head as she cut in, "You have _seven_ daughters Illorra! The man can't take two steps before falling into one of them. What do you think he's doing right now? Taking a bath and dreaming about the moment you walk through the door?"  
"I will hear no more slanderous lies about my mate! He may be pitiful and weak, but he would never lay a hand on our beautiful girls, Jen!"  
"Not with his hands tied behind his back he wouldn't. Ritsuko saw four of your little angels out behind the cobbler the other day, trying to milk a grandchild out of him for you," the orc replied, pretending to whisper but speaking loudly enough for the entire room to hear.

"Sounds...interesting," I attempted, not sure what sort of response was proper after accusations of incest. "I'm Arianwyn by the way," I added, hoping to draw the topic somewhere less uncomfortable.

"So how's your man...Arianwyn, was it?" the dark elf Illorra asked as an afterthought.

"I w-wouldn't want to boast," I nearly sputtered, managing only to pique their interests further.  
"Oooh, is he long, thick, or both? Oh! Or is he one of those men that never really goes soft?" the orc jumped in with her own questions.

Worried where this might end up going, I was about to speak up when Dewdrop shot a quick look of apology up at me before suddenly blurting out, "The man has a truly bottomless appetite! Even while he's sleeping, he talks about what he wants to do to her. At least two other women are after him and it seems like there are probably dozens more that have had him!"

My heart sank as Dewdrop spoke. She was talking about me and some of it I knew had to be true. She didn't really have a reason to lie, so I could only assume the rest of it was as well. As Dewdrop continued to earn stares of ever growing wonder while she continued to describe some of the more lurid details of my nocturnal mumbling, I wasn't sure how to feel about myself. I simply started taking much larger gulps of wine while I wondered if my sleeping self had never lost all those memories. It also seemed like it might be a good idea to invest in some sort of gag for when I was sleeping.

Deciding to excuse myself before my face could get any redder from embarrassment, I stood up from the table and gave a polite bow before retreating towards the stairs.

"I didn't upset you, did I?" Dewdrop asked as her fairy companion floated just behind her for support.  
"No, no. It was just a little weird hearing all of that. Don't worry about it. I'm glad you were able to find your friends," I mumbled, my mind still wandering over some of the things I'd heard.

Without warning, the small Dewdrop dashed forward through the air and placed a tiny kiss on my cheek. "Thank you for escorting me to this town, milady! I've decided that we're friends from now on, okay?"  
"Okay, Dewdrop," I warmly replied, smiling as I patted her tiny head, "If I don't see you before I leave, then take care of yourself."  
"Yep!" she as both fairies waved, returning to the bustling common room a moment later.

Heading up to the top floor, I unlocked the door and slipped inside. Seeing that the bed closest to the door was unoccupied, I tossed my bag onto the floor nearby and sat down. The room around me was poorly lit and there was a divider between the two halves of the room that at least afforded some privacy. I certainly didn't want to give my roommate any ideas.

As I thought about the other person in the room, I heard soft footsteps coming my way. I braced myself for whatever strange man was about to introduce himself when I heard my roommate start speaking in a decidedly feminine voice.

"So I guess I can trust the lizard after all. She told me you'd be here in this town so I paid for this room, then paid other mamono to fill the other rooms, and finally paid the owner to send you to me when you arrived," the shadowy figure continued to whisper, stepping closer to the edge of the dividing screen between us.

Tempted to speak up but without any idea of what to say, I simply watched as the figure slowly came closer, like a hunter advancing on its prey.

"I've been patient. I ignored your insulting brush-off. And hey, while we're keeping score, I also saved your arrogant ass twice," she calmly spoke as her hand reached around the edge of the screen, "Because of you I had to get a gold advance from those fucking kneecapping Teremir bastards at a TEN percent premium and now it's time for-wait, who are you?" she asked suddenly as she nearly pounced her way around the divider and laid eyes on me.

Staring at me with a look shifting between anger, confusion, and sadness, the familiar fox girl looked like she'd been physically wounded when she saw me.

"Uh…" I began, not certain where to even begin.  
"You're human, aren't you?" she posed rhetorically with a sigh, "Damn it, I knew I should have specified a human male."  
"Sorry about that. Who are you looking for?" I asked, a sudden devious idea coming to mind.  
"Oh, slender guy...about my height, rat's nest of brown hair, blue-ish eyes, always in trouble, really cute…" she rattled off, looking a bit more disappointed with each thing she said.  
"Cute?" I asked, feeling the tiniest flutter in my chest as I did so.

"Very, yeah. Hey, you mind chatting for a while?" she began somewhat nervously as she wrung her hands, "There's no way I'd find him tonight if I went out now and I've sort of been a nervous wreck after he went off on his own."

I patted the bed next to me, inviting her to sit. "Sure. I'm Arianwyn."  
"I'm Meryl Panna, formerly of Alnor," she said with a very strange look as she sat down next to me, "That's a very...interesting name."  
"It means silver, more or less. Anyway, you sounded like you were pretty angry with that guy," I observed.

I said her name a few times in my head to make sure I'd never forget it as she continued on.

"Oh, none of that stuff really matters. I was just trying to set the mood," she lamented as she laid down on the bed behind me.  
"You think he'd want to feel like you're stalking him?" I speculated aloud.  
"I really wish I knew. I'm such a mess. Everything has gone wrong since I left Alnor but it was just too hard to stay there. I was sure if I went out on the road like my sister-my _younger_ sister-I'd have a chance to find a perfect mate," she said as she fretted with her tail.

"So you think this guy is your perfect mate?"  
"Who knows? I haven't even had a chance to talk to him. He just...looks and acts almost exactly like someone else I was hung up over. I know they can't be the same person because he's in Alnor being partially male, but…"  
"So what was so special about the other guy you were hung up over?" I asked in earnest, glad to be talking about someone else.  
"You promise you won't laugh?" she asked as she pulled her tail to almost hide behind it.

"Is there a reason I would?"

"Well, only because you don't know me. Since I was the oldest girl in the family...sort of...actually, let's just go with that. Anyway, I felt like I needed to act tough and mature around my younger sisters since we didn't really have a mother around when we were growing up. They all thought I knew everything there was to know about sex and how to chase down a man, but it was all a front," she rambled, looking to me often as though she expected me to negatively judge her.

I was surprised she was opening up so easily to a complete stranger. It occurred to me that the nervousness might have been wearing on her more than she let on, and maybe the conversation was just to help distract her from that. Regardless, I simply nodded along as she spoke, making occasional sounds to indicate that I was still listening.

She took a deep breath and continued, "Well, it's probably stupid to get so hung up over something like this, but the first time I actually had sex it was with him. It wasn't just the two of us and he couldn't even see me. How sad is that? Before him I'd just use illusions and then jerk the guy off or something. He shot me down and I can't really blame him-he already had two women that were a lot better than me."

Now I was starting to feel extremely guilty to have her tell me all of this and I was pretty sure it was only going to get worse if I didn't say something. She was probably already going to be pissed with how much I'd let her say, but getting a chance to see this girl show a bit of vulnerability helped me come to a decision.

Zee might have been a distant goal for which I could aim, but Meryl was right here, right now, and worried about me for reasons that seemed completely unrelated to the simple lust-driven objective I thought she had in mind. There was something more there, and I at least owed her a chance.

Assuming she didn't kill me over the next few minutes, of course.

"Hey, Meryl," I began somewhat hesitantly as I laid down beside her.  
"What's up?" she said as she looked over at me curiously.

Taking a deep breath, I just came out with it, "I'm...going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get angry."

-  
-Elsewhere...

Taking a bundle of correspondence from the courier, Risa took two steps into the house before throwing the stack of parchment across the room and slumping to the hard marble floor with her back against the door.

Coming down the stairs in response to the clatter, the lich Delilah spoke calmly, "He...continues to degrade. His body should be able to aspirate enough demonic energy for survival from the air or from the ectoplasmic nexus I established. There is a problem, however, and he has been falling into an unnatural sleep for longer and longer periods of time. It is possible that-"  
"Don't say it!" Risa interrupted, her voice cracking, "Please don't say it, Del. I know that you feel-no...please just say anything but that."

Risa buried her head in her hands as she shook nervously, her entire world threatening to collapse upon itself.

Moving closer, the lich spoke again, "There is nothing more I can do with him. His form would stabilize completely with an infusion of spiritual energy but he has adamantly refused to even consider that option. It has been many months since his return and his unstable form still has not been solidified."

Her anger drawing her to her feet, Risa shouted back, "This is fucking Alnor! I know he said he'd never forgive me, but I'm not going to watch him wither and die before my eyes because he'd rather stand in an oasis than drink from it."

"I will not be able to assist you in that venture, Risa," Del whispered, the certainty in her voice upsetting to both of them.  
"He made you promise?" Risa asked.  
"That is correct. Even if I am forced to see him into the afterlife, I will not disobey his wishes. I have my contacts searching for the witch, and I could heal him with the proper catalyst, but the vast majority of his original essence has likely scattered. I am sorry, Risa," Del answered, her voice paying no heed to the tears that ran like glass down her alabaster skin.

Kicking the pile of scrolls that she'd already thrown to the floor, Risa took two angry steps towards the intractably grieving lich, fully ready to hit the ancient undead before something caught her eye. She dashed to pick up the missive with the now-broken seal and frantically scanned the document.

"Del. He's been asleep for the last week, right?"  
"That is correct."  
"You also said before that we could save him if we could gather his missing original essence together, right? How?"

Del considered the question a moment and answered simply, "If we were to contain the loose essence in a vessel, a simple ritual coupled with breaking the vessel in his presence should force the essence back into his form."

"What if another person or mamono has already absorbed that essence?"  
"The body is little more than a less efficient vessel. A similar ritual destruction of that body would have the same effect," Del said as she inched closer to Risa in curiosity.

"Okay, then tell me...do you sense his essence on this?" Risa said as she offered the document to Delilah.  
"Without a doubt, yes."  
"Well then it looks like _someone_ that can perfectly match his signature is wandering around Kioko...stinking of that lost essence," Risa answered with a scowl.  
"The most likely culprit would be a powerful doppelganger or undead. It is also possible, however extremely unlikely, that-"  
"You don't think you should get ready to leave?" Risa asked impatiently.

With a hopeful smile that quickly turned dark, Del nodded, "Do not worry, Risa. I will see our lover's essence ripped from this pretender if I have to bring down the sky itself or tear the earth from its moorings to do so."

Risa cracked her knuckles and headed toward the study, "You do that, Del. _I'm_ going to find out what this person looks like and put a bounty on the bastard so large that every cheap sellsword, hardened mercenary, and tireless bounty hunter from here to Michiko will jump at the chance to drag this asshole here alive."

"Understood. Lorelei, let us go," Delilah said as she strode from the manor with the obedient zombie, "It is time to hunt."


	13. Chapter 13 - Something Wicked This Way

Chapter 13 - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Meryl seemed to intensify her stare at me and frowned a bit. "There's no way I could promise something like that. You can say whatever you want, but you know I don't really get to choose if I'll be angry about it."

"Okay, well then just go easy on me if it _does_ piss you off," I pleaded, feeling like I was losing traction when her expression didn't change.

She sighed slightly but didn't answer.

"I...might have an idea where you can find this guy, Joe."

The moment I spoke those words, she was above me, glaring down at me with an angry look of confusion. I could have sworn it looked like tears were forming at the corners of her eyes as she knocked the overly fancy hat from my head and took a good look at me.

"That scar and-damn it, what did you do to yourself?!" she pleaded with a desperate edge to her voice.  
"I just drank some enchanted spring water to hide myself...or part of myself. It's just supposed to be temporary!" I quickly offered, hoping to calm her down.

"No...I thought that scar had to be a coincidence. That would mean-you couldn't have…" She continued to protest out loud, her words clearly not intended for my ears.

Her mind was warring over more than just the female body beneath her, the struggle written plainly on her face. Just when it seemed that she was about to slap me, she surprised me by instead reaching down and pulling me up into a fierce hug. It only lasted a moment before she nearly tossed me back onto the bed.

"I was worried-and you let me say all those things and-what water?!" she growled as she held me down with a single hand as she sat astride me.  
"The shopkeeper said the effects were completely temporary!" I quickly interjected in an attempt to stymie her quickly escalating emotional state. "It's supposed to be water from some enchanted spring somewhere in the northeastern forests."  
"How much did you drink?" she asked, managing to calm down a bit as she wrangled with several other questions that seemed to be aching to leap to the fore.  
"I still have the bottle...it didn't seem like all that much," I mumbled, looking over towards my bag.

She didn't hesitate in leaping over and rifling through my meager possessions, finally coming upon the empty flask.

She paled a bit as she put her palm to her forehead and shook her head. "Was this full?"  
Suddenly getting worried with where this was going, I nervously answered, "Um...not completely. Just about to there," I declared, pointing to where it had been filled.  
"Lords! Joe...there was more than one round of that water in here," she hissed in an accusatory tone.  
"I didn't know!" I shouted back, now feeling a bit dizzy as I fretted over the chance that my temporary solution had just turned into a permanent lifestyle choice. "What do I do…? It'll still wear off, won't it!?"  
Seeing my alarm actually seemed to calm her slightly as she moved to sit next to me again, "It should...but even if this was diluted, you're still looking at a few months. If it wasn't...maybe a few years."

That was just about all I could take as I got to my feet and stumbled across the room to the closest wall. I felt like I needed to do _something_ but felt so utterly helpless that all I could do was pace, trying desperately to catch a wind that seemed determined to elude me.

"I can't stay like this that long! I...there has to be something to undo it or reverse the change, right?" I desperately asked.  
Grabbing my hand as I paced by and pulling me back onto the bed, Meryl tried to be comforting while sounding exasperated, "Calm down, Joe. No magic is unbreakable, even this one. It's just that people that could break it outright are in very short supply...and might have a potential conflict of interest, and I'm not even sure _I_ could afford a tonic that would take you back the other direction, assuming I could even find one for sale to begin with."

Dozens of thoughts cascaded through my mind every moment as my eyes lost their focus. How authentic was this transformation? Was I going to have to deal with the sort of bodily functions that had always made me glad to have been born a man? Could I get pregnant? Did this change mean I could be turned into a monster?

"I'm sorry, I just...don't know what to do now. What if I get attacked or what if-"  
"Don't worry about it, Joe. That is your name, right? I guess I never really verified that given how you...looked," she stated, derailing my destructive thought processes.  
"Yeah, I chose Arianwyn because I really like that name but I didn't think I'd be stuck with it for months or-" I swallowed hard, finding it difficult to form the words, "-years."

She pulled me into an infinitely soothing hug and began to stroke my hair as she softly spoke, "Come on, Joe. This won't be that bad, I promise. Thank Amarante you're still human at least. I'll definitely help you break this enchantment. Where did you even get it in the first place?"

Sniffling slightly at bearing the gravity of this turn of events, I mumbled into her shoulder, "A tanuki girl at the merchant post on the road south of here."  
"Wait, how did you even afford it?" she said as she squeezed me almost angrily, "You only _stole_ about a hundred gold from me."

Even more worried now about the arrangement I'd made, I nestled further into her shoulder before answering. "I got robbed right before I was going to buy supplies, so I wasn't going to be able to pay. She said she recognized me from some painting and she knew I was good for it if she sent the bill to Alnor."

I already knew the potential repercussions of that action but I wanted to clear something up with Meryl so that there would be no further confusion.

"I didn't exactly have a mirror to see what I looked like, but if that scar didn't heal then it has to be something from my old life that might never heal," I reasoned aloud.  
"No...I sent a letter to make _certain_ that you couldn't be-"  
Quickly raising a hand, I cut in with what I meant to say in the first place, "Meryl...stop. Please, I don't know what you're going to say, but if it's anything about before you saved me from that spider...I don't want to know. At least not yet."

She looked very thoughtfully curious as she considered my words, simply nodding her head to allow me to continue.

"I'm probably just being arrogant despite being quite plainly shown that I have no right to be after what I've been through in the last week, but it feels like you want me to be someone...specific. Maybe I am that person, but...please just promise me that you won't try to remind me about that life. It's important for me to figure out for sure who I am before being confronted with choices I've made that I won't understand. I...know I had to give up something very important and maybe you know enough already to have figured out what that might be, but I'm not ready to hear it. Just...pretend I'm someone else or a twin brother if you have to but-"

She cut me off with a calming smile and a finger to my lips, "I get it. I sure as hell don't understand all the specifics, and this may be high in the running for the strangest thing I've ever seen, but I got a letter yesterday that told me enough. I thought you might have been claimed, but that man-er...person is definitely still alive in Alnor. If you ever want to know what I know then just ask, but I won't ever try to make you remember...I swear it."

Under her breath, I just barely heard her followup to that as she breathlessly whispered, "...hope you never remember."

"This could be an issue though. I do know where that bill will be going and it'll certainly cause some problems, but I know the...account manager. I'll send her another letter and tell her it was a prank to test and make sure she was paying attention. She knows I'm good for it so it shouldn't cause too much of a fuss," she offered with a mischievous smile.

Finally starting to really calm down, I smiled at her. "Either you are just desperate for a man or I was _really_ nice to you before."  
"Maybe it's a little of both, though you aren't exactly fulfilling that first requirement," she answered, rolling her eyes as she did so. "I know there's a man hiding somewhere beneath all of this woman and...fancy clothing. Damn it! Why are you dressed better than me!?"

"A fairy wanted to play dress-up with me while I was asleep, I guess. She insisted that I wear the corset with it, but aside from that it's actually really comfortable," I happily answered, stretching my arms out a bit to show it off a moment before getting more than a little self-conscious about it.

The tension finally having gone from the room, Meryl sighed before meeting my gaze again, "I'll call you Arianwyn if you want, Joe. Whatever happens, I've got your back."

"I wouldn't have cared if this were just the two-week vacation I was planning, but just Ari is fine," I began before turning serious, "It means a lot to me to know that you're even still here. You would have run off looking for some easier game by now if you didn't care at least a little."

"Spending time around you isn't the _worst_ thing I can imagine doing. And after you get back to normal...who knows?"  
"About that...I want to get this out of the way, but it is a big deal to me. This also probably seems really sudden, but I want you to make me a promise that you'll always be honest with me. I'll make the same promise. Even if it'll hurt one or both of us, that's the way it has to be for any kind of relationship," I gave in answer to her musing.  
"You know I'm as close to a liar by trade as a person can get, right?" she asked, seeming dubious of my intentions.  
"What's the point of even spending time together if we're lying to each other or about who we are? I promise that I'll be honest with you. If this relationship is going to work, especially in this fucked-up world, honesty is the only thing that matters," I asserted with finality.

"So...we're in a relationship now?" she asked with an eyebrow raised.

I looked away before answering. "I didn't plan to be stuck in this body for an extended period of time, but if that's a deal-breaker then you...don't have to stick around."

Her almost teasing smile vanished almost immediately, her hand shooting out to grab my arm. "No! I...can be okay with that. I promise...I just thought you'd want to wait a little longer before declaring something like that. I mean...you don't even really know me."

Placing a comforting hand on her, I looked back to her and smiled. "I know you risked your life to save mine twice and you're here right now. Azalea told me that a whore like me would be lucky to land a sweet girl like you, and even if you _do_ seem to have a knack for getting under my skin...I don't _entirely_ hate that about you either. I'm not saying I want to get married or see every fucking sunset in your eyes alone...just that I'd be stupid not to give you a chance."

"Yeah...well a good whore would have been a lot more smooth about accepting what amounts to my confession, but I'll take it. For now. What's the deal with the salamander anyway?"

I suppose I did promise that I'd be honest.

"Well, before I found myself needing to squat to pee, I was pretty well settled on doing whatever it took to bone her silly. Not to mention...have you seen those lips of hers?" I lightly proclaimed, hoping my tone might distract a bit from the content of my statement.  
"Oh, come on! You really can't be happy with just one woman?" Meryl pouted in answer.

"Aren't you supposed to be more pragmatic about this? No matter how much I like pizza, it doesn't diminish the affection I have for steak," I insisted.  
"A girl can dream," she mused with a sigh, "but that honestly makes me feel more confident that you are the person I think you are. I'll even help teach you to fight if you want to throw yourself at her. Cripes, if she's my competition, she might just do me a solid and beat that desire right out of you."  
"Oh, you underestimate my determination," I countered with a wink.  
She took on a faraway look for a moment before returning a weak smile. "No, I get the feeling that once you get an idea into that head, just about nothing will shake it loose. Oh, she's in town by the way."  
"How do you know that?" I asked with a slight frown.  
"I paid to put her up at the other inn. It's really more of a nice hotel, really. Since I was planning on jumping you here, I didn't want her in the way. Since _that_ isn't going to happen now…" she trailed off as she looked me up and down in a slight disappointment.

Blushing before I even opened my mouth, I spoke again. "Well...I mean, it's not like it HAS to not happen."

Just the thought of doing anything to release this pressure was sounding good. The itch had been building for days and I knew the desire wasn't entirely normal. It was as if the air itself had been begging my body to do _something_ , but without any of my familiar equipment and a kindly fairy always staring over my shoulder (or sitting on it), I hadn't had a chance. If Meryl wasn't down for what I was offering, I'd have set my wandering hands to the task of exploring the uncharted territory of this unfamiliar body.

"You're serious?" she asked as her tail seemed to swish about more excitedly and her skin took on a slight blush.  
"I-yes. Please," I nearly begged, sensing that she wasn't entirely opposed to the idea.

As I waited for her response, I leaned in a bit closer to her. Not seeing an outright refusal, I tentatively brushed a lock of her light blonde hair clear of her face.

Hiding from my stare, she buried her face in her hands. "This is not at all how I thought this was going to happen. You'd better not get all shy and virginal and expect me to do all the work."

"So you weren't serious about your own limited experience?" I mused as I gently grasped at her hip.

"Shut up," she replied in frustration as she pulled me into a very welcome kiss.

Her lips falling upon mine absolutely inflamed me far beyond what I expected, the electricity from the contact rushing over me and sending a chill across my skin. I leaned into Meryl, unconsciously drawn towards her warmth as I entwined my arms around her.

I let my hands slide beneath her simple clothing and gently ran my fingers across her slender form, pleasantly surprised by the abundance of feminine softness I found. Meryl may have been on the thin side, but she had generous curves in the places that mattered.

While my hands moved down the smooth skin of her back to rest upon her perfectly proportioned hips, my tongue met hers for the first time. The almost accidental contact caused us both to quietly gasp. As my fingers ran across her skin, drawing slightly quickened breaths from her, I had a horrifying realization.

"Oh god, I need to get this dress off!" I exclaimed.

With a sigh at her own rising arousal, she shook her head as she teasingly ran her slender fingers up the skin of my inner thigh to...the apex of that particular triangle. I nearly jumped to feel the completely unfamiliar sensation of contact.

"Already soaked through? Well...as much fun as it would be to have you smelling your own sex for days, I want to see what you've got hiding under here anyway."

With that, we began the arduous team effort of removing my overly complicated dress. While probably only taking several minutes to disrobe, it may as well have been hours with Meryl's hot breath upon my neck as she undid the many laces of the restricting corset.

"Lords, you're already shaking, Joe. Oh, right...Ari," she corrected as her pace seemed to slow to glacial.  
"I don't even care what you call me, just...please hurry," I begged as the corset finally came free.  
"We can't have this getting ruined," she teased in a light tone as she slowly pulled the dress and thin black slip off of me.

Without looking back to me, she walked across to her side of the room where she seemed to be laying the dress on her bed. As I heard the sound of her slow and deliberate steps carrying her back towards me, I finally got a good look at the body that had been hiding beneath my dress.

Though still bound in an embarrassingly flattering bra, I couldn't resist reaching up to grasp at the attention-drawing breast flesh that caught my eye first. As many times as I'd wished to be able to grab at a nice pair of breasts with impunity, I found myself hesitating. That hesitation lasted only a few seconds before I reached up to grab one of the sisters in each hand, the firm but yielding flesh too much to be contained in a single handful.

While not any more sensitive than the skin that had adorned my chest as a man, there was a far more arousing mental component as I felt the weight of them resting in my hands. The chill afforded by a lack of other clothing saw my nipples rise to prominence, even hidden beneath the dark silken cloth.

While I regarded the rest of my almost ideally hourglass-inspired feminine form, I made the mistake of running my hands across those erect nipples. Having normally sensitive nipples, it was impossible to say if the shock that hit me was more intense than what I would have normally felt, but there was a corresponding throbbing heat that responded from between my legs that drew a heavy gasp from me.

I closed my eyes and let my right hand slowly crawl down my midsection, aiming for the source of the growing heat. Just as my fingers touched upon the fine hairs above my destination, I felt a firm grip upon my arm that prevented me from inching any closer.

"I'll take care of that. Your hands are spoken for," Meryl demanded as she drew my chin upwards slightly and gazed at me through half-lidded emerald eyes. "Let's get the rest of this off first."

As she released my chin, I saw Meryl standing before me in completely naked splendor. Somehow relieved that her breasts were larger than my magically borrowed pair, I must have had a goofy smile on my face as I took in the sight of her.

Meryl was as tall as I had been before my transformation. The only "flaws" on her smooth skin were a dash of light freckles and the subtle tan lines from the sun's frequent embrace. She was otherwise a complete bombshell with long, sensuous legs, an ass that seemed built to have inspired the term 'heart-shaped', and a pair of breasts that seemed too large and perky to even be real. The nearly blonde fur of her nervously swaying fox tail and matching ears put her in the realm of an unattainable dream...and yet there she stood.

"That look might just be the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," she said with a blush as she began to remove my underclothes.

As the silken panties came free, I began to whimper as I reached up to pull her down beside me. I wasted no time in reaching down to the inhumanly warm folds of her sex in the desperate hope that she would do the same to me.

"Meryl, please…!" I whimpered, my own still-unfamiliar voice arousing me further as I rocked my hips towards her, the slight friction as I brushed against her only succeeding in driving my wits further from me.

I ran my shaking fingers down the length of her moist slit until I found her already-engorged clitoris and began to gently work it between my fingers. _That_ finally set her into motion.

Like the first bite of a gourmet meal after a week of fasting, I finally felt the rapture of her touch upon me. Tentative at first but with a slowly growing confidence, she ran her fingers up and down my weeping gash, seeming to intentionally avoid even touching my own clit. Either that was her inexperience showing, or she was unmercifully teasing me.

I pushed myself tightly against her and latched my mouth upon one of her deliciously erect nipples, lightly nibbling at her and lashing her with my tongue as I continued to draw her towards a climax with my fingers. Each moment saw her more flushed as her breath continued to quicken with her pulse. Just as I was sure that I was about to push the writhing fox girl beyond her limit, I felt her fingers seize upon the untouched pearl of sensation that now graced my anatomy.

Frozen in time, I could only hiss out a mostly silent scream as the shockwave hit me. Even though the touch lasted only a moment, I bucked my hips against her hand in an unspoken demand that she continue.

Her voice breathy as she tried to hold back her own shaking release, she moaned as she leaned down to whisper to me, her breath nearly scalding as it played across my ear. "Oooh, does my gender-bent lover like that?"

I could only nod my head violently as I lost my grip upon her, just as she began running her tail along my wide-spread inner thighs, the soft fur working in unison with her skilled fingers in an effort to drive me completely out of my mind.

As I let loose another muted scream when her fingers found purchase upon the impossibly sensitive hooded core of my nethers, I managed to regain my rhythm somewhat, my fingers literally and figuratively beckoning to Meryl with a 'come hither'.

Still laying alongside the literal vixen, I brought myself level with her as I leaned forward to capture her lips in my own, if only to mute the screams I was barely able to keep contained. For what seemed like hours, I lost myself in the softness of her lips and the heat of her body as she lost herself in mine.

I had begun to shake with the intense foreshocks of what was coming. The feeling was nearly impossible to describe, the charge feeling like it was pulling my entire being inward in small electric pulses that played at a tempo dictated only by Meryl's tormenting fingers as they strummed gently across my tender flesh.

Our bodies tense and quivering, we strained against each other in the twinned need to escape from the overpowering ecstasy and the desire to throw ourselves against it. As our eyes met a final time, I felt my entire being drawn into a single point of absolute physical joy before every inch of me, from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, shook with the force of my release.

My entire body convulsed only seconds before I felt Meryl's free arm pull me tight against her, her own body shaking with abandon as her vaginal lips fluttered and grasped at my fingers. We remained entwined for several minutes as tiny shakes ran through the both of us.

First to break the silent calm of our embrace, Meryl sighed deeply in exhaustion as she covered the two of us with her tail. "Damn, that was amazing. I truly hope I don't have to get too used to this, but...sweet lords you're good with your fingers."

I was still trying to catch my breath as I huddled closer to Meryl to escape the chill. Seeing my struggle, she smiled softly and covered me almost completely with the downy softness of her fluffy fox tail.

Blushing from an embarrassment that didn't seem necessary around Meryl given what we'd just done, I ran my fingers through the soft fur of her tail as I replied, "I'm...a lot better with my tongue."  
"Next time, Ari...this room already smells like the seats in a strip club."

Part of me wished she'd never said that name. Looking down at my new body and the reality it represented, however, I was more disturbed by how "right" it felt when she said it. Maybe being stuck like this wouldn't be so terrible.

As I drifted off to sleep in my new lover's warm embrace, I mumbled a few things I couldn't remember before passing into the land of dreams completely.

-

I slept well-too well, I gathered, as I received a somewhat rude awakening in a set of new-smelling clothing being tossed in my face.

"It's almost noon, you lazy bastard. Get up!" I heard Meryl demand before she started shaking the entire bed.  
Assuming she'd just had my other clothes cleaned, I was actually pleased to see a more form-fitting travel outfit on the bed before me with a blessedly more functional set of underwear that were more likely to keep...things in place.

"I'm up, damn it. It's not like we have anywhere to be, is it?" I queried as I fumbled around with my new clothes in a vain attempt to get them on correctly.

With a huff of mild annoyance, Meryl finally came over and helped me get dressed. She thankfully made a point of showing me how to get it done myself the next time. Being stuck like this for the foreseeable future meant I needed to learn how to do this eventually anyway.

"What happened to my dress?" I asked, somewhat disappointed by the more drab attire I now wore.  
"I had it washed and its in my wagon on the off chance we find ourselves at an event that actually calls for something so needlessly fancy." She still seemed upset that it was nicer than anything she had to wear. Handing me some water and a thick rice porridge, she continued, "And we do have somewhere to be. I met up with Azalea a couple hours ago and told her I'd found you and what you went and did to yourself."

I didn't think my appearance would matter much to Zee, but I was sure that this new body would just make my goal of trying to best her more difficult. Even if I ignored the likely reduced muscle mass, this new body shape and center of gravity were going to be larger hurdles to overcome.

After finishing my simple breakfast, a short jaunt across town put me face to face with the salamander once again. Her reaction was not at all what I expected.

"You're sure this is him?" she asked as she adjusted her belt slightly and then inexplicably licked her lips. A moment later she laughed, snapping me back to reality. "Yeah, that's him," she asserted, adding, "okay stand right there and let me get a really good look at you."

It was sort of off-putting to have her staring directly at my face for no apparent reason. After a solid minute, I turned to her with a scowl. "Is this some sort of test or something like the bullshit suggestion you gave me about the road here being 'safe'?"

"No, Joe. I'm memorizing your face. If a _real_ fight starts and I need to pull out all the stops, I'll need to make sure I don't hesitate," Zee answered without breaking her stare.  
"What, do you do some kind of zen meditation combat style or something?" I asked, feeling slightly more comfortable with her stare now.  
"Far from it. Anyway, I've got an important question," she suddenly interjected.  
"What's up?"  
"You want me to call you Ari? I can do that, but it's going to be a lot less fun," Zee said as she kept her gaze locked on me, a wide smile starting to push across her face.  
Curious what she could possibly be talking about, I pushed out of plain curiosity, "Oh? Why would it be more fun if I went by Joseph or Joe?"

Her hand already fumbling around in her pouch, she produced a small piece of parchment that had my name and face on it...or what my face looked like before my magical mishap. Reading further it proclaimed that I was to be brought alive and unharmed to one Karisa Panna of Alnor and that the reward for such was 200,000 gold pieces.

"What the…" I began aloud, assuming this was some kind of joke before I saw a similar picture posted in several other places around the town. "What the hell is this?! Wait...Meryl, didn't you say that was your family name?"

Finally speaking up after several moments of silence, Meryl looked defeated as she replied, "Karisa is my younger sister. I...have no idea why she would put up a bounty like this. Unless that danuki rooked you for 200k, that is."  
"No! It was only a tenth of that. Still highway robbery, yeah, but I double checked the contract before I signed it," I protested.

Meryl started looking around nervously as she scratched her head in obvious confusion. "This doesn't make sense at all. Risa is _not_ the kind of rich that she can throw around this kind of coin and she knows it. There's just no way, unless…"

"Unless?" I prodded.  
"Fuck! You about done, Azalea?" Meryl asked impatiently.  
"Yep. Oh, and call me Zee. _Ari_ here struck gold with that one. Where are we headed?" Zee answered, her smile looking as if it had somehow grown larger.

Meryl then grabbed my wrist and started leading me back toward the stables attached to the inn. She still hadn't answered my question and her growing concern was worrying me.

"Meryl!" I shouted as I yanked my hand free from her insistent grip. "What the hell is going on here?"

Meryl turned back angrily to answer my question before her entire demeanor fell. As I followed her gaze, I saw that the town appeared nearly deserted. The few townsfolk that were still visible seemed to be scurrying to get away from us, not making eye contact. In a tree above us, however, perched a single raven that seemed to be fixated upon us.

I didn't resist when Meryl grabbed my arm again and pulled me along to the stables, quickly lashing a horse to a modest wagon emblazoned with a green serpent on the side. Zee followed behind us, her manner not affected in the least by Meryl's nearly frantic attempt to get us on the road quickly.

We headed out onto the road leading east without another word until long after the town was gone beyond the horizon. I didn't realize until much further down the road how much colder it had been in town as we left.

Zee seemed content to look over her spear and falchion with a look of sheer amusement as Meryl all but literally put her tail between her legs, her ears laying almost flat against her head. Something was terrifying her and I wasn't going to be able to sleep until I had some idea of what that thing was.

"Meryl, what was that all about? Are there bounty hunters after me already?" I asked, suddenly feeling even more guilty that I'd slept in so late.  
Looking back for assurance that we weren't being followed, she finally answered a minute later, "I...think we're in deep shit. Something must have happened back in Alnor. If _she_ is after you then we need to go somewhere to lose her."  
"If they already found me so quickly...where can we even go?" I asked with a growing trepidation that Meryl's panic wasn't helping.

Zee stretched and spoke up, "I've heard nobody's come out of the Prosperity Mines alive in at least a few hundred years. Should only be a day or two to the east of here-right at the base of the great mountains."  
"Hold on, how does going into a mine help us? Wouldn't that just be a dead end at best?" I asked.

"No, no. I heard that the miners broke into some ancient dwarven roads that ran beneath the mountain and could get us straight to Kaori without having to go around the mountains. Doesn't matter to me either way, though," Zee said as she reclined slightly and reached for her familiar kiseru, frowning when she realized she didn't have it.

"Fine, it's better than trying to deal with what's chasing us. If I can get a message to my sister or talk to her...I know she'll at least be reasonable," Meryl said as she kept the horse at a hurried pace.

While Meryl spoke, I saw a small-statured figure ahead on the road, seemingly only visible to me. As we passed the figure, she tipped her oversized hat in my direction, her face impossible to make out.

Shaking the strange sight from my head, I decided I'd had enough of avoiding the topic at hand. I reached up and gently grabbed Meryl's arm until she turned back toward me. Once I caught her gaze, I calmly asked, "Who do you think is after us, Meryl?"  
"A lich named Delilah," she said as her eyes seemed to inexplicably tear up.  
"Oh, _this_ is going to be good," Zee said as her familiar smile returned.

"Delilah?" I asked as another statement came to mind unbidden.

"Delilah played the dead girl at...the...freak show…?"

As those words left my mouth, I felt an intense pain shoot through my head. I screamed and tore at my temples in an attempt to stop the most inconceivable agony I could even imagine as it felt like my entire skull would shatter from the strain. I passed into blessed nothingness a moment later.


	14. Chapter 14 - Prosperity

Chapter 14 - Prosperity

"Any chance a package arrived for me?" Azalea asked the desk manager at the fancy hotel in which she'd been staying for the past several days.  
Apparently shocked to see the salamander, the well-dressed succubus at the desk answered confusedly. "No, miss. We have not received a package for you." She hesitated before continuing, "I...do not mean to presume anything, but your benefactor Miss Meryl left nearly two days ago with a human female and...you, as far as I could see."  
"Tell me she didn't just stick me with the bill," Azalea groaned.  
"Oh, not at all. You're paid up through next week. Miss Meryl was quite insistent that you be offered the finest accommodation at our disposal," the polite succubus answered with a slight bow.  
"Wait...you're saying she left with a human female and _me_?" Azalea queried, gesturing to her distinctive shape for emphasis.  
"Most assuredly. One of the local couriers has been positively littering the city with _these_ ," she said as she brought forth a sizable stack of the bounty notices and showed one of them to Azalea. "I've been picking these up off of our well-manicured grounds for the last two days and happened to see...the three of you leaving. You seemed to be in quite a rush."

"Shit! Not even a week and I'm about to break my damn contract!" Azalea shouted before dashing for the door. She stopped just short to call out to the receptionist. "If a package comes for me, just hold it at the desk. I'll be back!"

Azalea had a strong feeling about just who the human "female" had to be but was now feeling a large swell of concern about the salamander that was seen leaving with Meryl and the likely disguised human. Dashing out the door, the large salamander nearly bowled over a much shorter woman that was passing by the hotel entrance.

The much taller Azalea placed a steadying hand upon the shoulder of the pale girl that seemed to be completely naked. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry and wasn't looking where I was going. You okay?"

"I am undamaged," the pale girl replied in an emotionless monotone.  
"That's...uh...great. I really need to run but...wow, you aren't wearing anything? I don't really need this cloak if you want it," Azalea offered, feeling a bit guilty to see the girl seemingly without a single possession.  
"Do I make you uncomfortable?" the girl asked, taking the offer in the wrong direction.  
"Were you a personal advisor to Charisse?"  
"No."  
"Then not at all. Here," Azalea said as she threw her large cloak at the small undead and began a hard jog down the eastern road.

Not at all accustomed to kindness from strangers, the short but inhumanly endowed lich looked to the eastern horizon and allowed a small smile. Far more valuable than the gift the salamander intended to give, the violet-eyed undead picked up the distinct impression of her target's essence within the fibers of the cloth. Throwing the large cloak about her and gesturing to her zombified companion, the immortal necromancer headed east.

-

"This one's mind is all messed up," I heard an ethereal voice intone, cutting through the blackness that had fallen over me.  
"That will just make this so much more...entertaining," a voice whispered in response.  
"So many toys to play with," the ethereal voice said, sounding almost like a different person in her sudden excitement.

It sounded like two voices, one very distant and ethereal, the other coming across as almost childlike but with an almost sultry raspiness. While the first voice was odd enough to stick in my memory, the second voice was making my body itch in something not unlike dangerously unsated desire. Despite barely hanging on to the edge of consciousness, I was awake enough in that moment to worry about what was planned for me.

-Through Meryl's Eyes

"So this is great. I confess to a guy, in a woman's body of course, and now he's marked for death or something even worse...by my own sister, no less. I must really be cursed." I mused aloud mostly for my own benefit as I tried to figure a way out of this shit.

Azalea had been almost completely quiet since Joe- _Ari_ went unconscious. Neither of us had any idea what the hell had happened, but it was a safe bet that it was Delilah's name that set the whole thing off. As much as I normally liked the quiet, silence was the last thing I wanted with that lich's chill already creeping up the crack of my ass.

"Do you seriously think you can handle a lich, Zee?" I asked the rival for my unconventional man's affection.  
"They fall apart just like any other enemy. Sure, they can reform and summon legions of undead, but that all takes energy. I doubt they'd ever tell you something like this, but they'll fall apart if you press the right buttons, just like anyone else," the salamander replied as she lazily soaked up the sun.

Something was definitely off. I'd heard succubi claim that they could find anyone's...buttons, but Zee was somehow less experienced than me and there was just about no chance she'd boast about being able to arouse an undead to distraction as a combat tactic. As much as I wanted to write off my worry as several misunderstandings piled on top of the stress from Ari going all dead weight on me, I knew that Zee seemed different than the first time I'd met her _and_ the conversation we had before I got her that room at the hotel. She _was_ weird to begin with-I mean, what salamander has a tail flame that's barely keeping alive? But this was an unfamiliar weird.

And then there was that absolutely ludicrous suggestion to go to the abandoned Prosperity mine. Delilah was certainly scary, but Prosperity had been a death sentence for everyone that ever wandered into it. The bigger problem was that Azalea had mentioned it in the first place. Sure, it was well known to _me_ but that was only because my economics tutor held it up as an example of a "sunk cost". Basically, the gold wasted trying to claim the mine was never coming back even IF the mine was successfully cleared.

Azalea was from Charisse and was unfamiliar enough with Kioko customs to verify that there wasn't a fucking chance she'd ever been anywhere near here. And yet there she was, suggesting a place she shouldn't even know about WITH the added insight that there was a tunnel all the way to Kaori down there as well.

Maybe being an amazing liar just gave me the insight to know when I'd run into another master of the craft. All I cared about at this point was making sure that Ari was going to be okay and I wasn't going to let a perfectly good fixer-upper of a mate be lead into an outright death trap.

"Whoa, watch the road," I heard Zee suddenly exclaim as I looked away from the increasingly adorable sleeping human back to the road ahead of the wagon, seeing nothing but open road before me.

I had a fair idea of what was coming next and was still unable to stop it. The sharp sting of a needle piercing my skin was the prelude to a rapidly approaching dizziness. My vision was fading and fast. I made one a leap backwards, ostensibly to attack the treacherous lizard, and was violently thrown to the floor of the wagon despite my best looking attempt at being fierce.

Just as I'd planned. This bitch had _no_ idea who she was fucking with.

"Why?" I asked in my most vulnerable voice as one of my hands fished beneath my seat for one of the vials of antitoxin I made certain to have made before I set out on this trip.  
"My sister and I are going to have some fun with you two. You're cursed anyway, right? It's not like you're leaving anything behind," the salamander said, her tone sounding even more unfamiliar now.

I managed to spike myself with the antitoxin right as I was fading out completely. Now I just needed to play sleepy girl until I was in a position to get Ari free of this.

I started awake to find myself bound by the hands and feet and completely suspended off the floor. The room that greeted me was stone, rough-hewn and small, filled with all manner of devices that could have but one obvious, sexual purpose. It was if the very essence of sexual congress had been written onto every particle of air, the scent so stifling and potent that an unwanted heat began to roll across my bound, naked body.

Despite the rough stone walls and floor, someone had gone to great pains to make this room into a rather sumptuous love nest. Aside from the small bed, the fine rugs, cushions, and expensive-looking wall hangings made it almost possible to believe that this wasn't just a cave somewhere.

Seeming to appear from nowhere, I saw what was likely going to be my next little slice of hell. As my host seemed to phase right through the wall with a warping of reality, I was able to get a good look at her.

She looked like some sort of succubus with blue skin and dull grey hair. With the familiar bat-like wings and spaded tail, she sported a pair of tiny wings atop her head, however, instead of the expected horns. Her eyes were very striking, with sclera that were completely black and nearly glowing red irises. Finishing things off (or starting them) was her impossibly short stature and tiny frame that was little larger than a child.

Even if she hadn't looked like some species of succubus, the fact that she was carrying a clipboard and dressed like a nurse was worrisome. How would she even know what a nurse's outfit is supposed to look like?

"Welcome to Cecily's Boudoir and Emergency Medical Center. I am Cecily." She gave a theatrical bow, almost losing the hat atop her head as she did so. "So, what terrible sickness has brought you to seek my healing touch?"

Despite sounding vexingly young, her voice was warm and inviting. I certainly didn't trust her, but I didn't feel like I had anything to really fear from her.

"Hello Cecily. I...uh...don't think I'm actually sick. I'm not quite sure how I got here, actually."  
"Mmm, I see. Short term memory loss, fainting spells, low body temperature, and an unbroken hymen. This is worse than I thought," she answered calmly, making several marks on her clipboard as she approached me.

"No, that isn't...I mean I _do_ have some memory loss but I feel fine otherwise." I tried to ignore her last symptom but felt obligated to say something to spare myself a potential "cure" for it. "I'm not really a virgin though, I just drank some magical spring water that changed me. Actually...if you're a medical professional, maybe you could help fix that problem."

"I see. And what did this water change?" she asked, straightening a pair of spectacles that I _knew_ hadn't been there a moment ago.

Despite the trouble it could have caused to explain my situation, I could feel her soothing presence seeming to pry my inhibitions apart. Just like being drunk, I just didn't process the reasons I should have stayed quiet.

"I was a man before I drank it. It should be temporary but I think I drank too much so it might last a really long time."  
"And because of this you have been unable to satisfy your mate...a Miss Meryl?" she asked as she flipped through a few pages on her clipboard.  
"No! I mean...she seemed satisfied. Wait...where is Meryl-where is Zee?" I asked, my mind clearing a moment.

I was tied up here and this wasn't a medical professional before me. The realization actually shocked me as I began to struggle against my bindings. Luckily I was able to realize after a few moments of her gentle touch upon my head that this paranoia was likely due to my sickness.

"So you aren't happy with this lovely feminine body? You aren't excited to see your own gentle curves and pleased by the softness of your skin?" As she spoke she began running her fingers across me, her touch painfully arousing.  
"It...hasn't been all bad. I need to get back to normal though...don't I?"

She ran her free hand up the exposed skin of my inner thigh and beamed up at me with a smile. "Do you? In my professional opinion, I think you should experience all that this body has to offer before making a final decision. And then there is the problem of your humanity to consider."  
"W-what's wrong with being human?" I asked, her wandering fingers setting fire to my reason.

"It is a terminal disease, my dear. As we speak you are withering before my eyes. Very very soon you will be a corpse, then bones, and then nothing more than a memory. There are only two cures to the disease that is humanity. The first is to forsake it entirely and join completely with this world. The other is to pass life on to your offspring, guaranteeing that you will live on through them." She took on a grave look as she spoke, as though she was delivering bad medical news.

She was doing something to my head and it was something beyond inciting lust. My objections were running into well-reasoned explanations of why I should just tell her to sign me up for whatever she had in mind. I wanted to refuse her suggestions outright but my mind simply wouldn't let me form the words. I settled for the only thing I seemed able to say against her mental influence and the increasing intensity of her physically teasing onslaught.

"I...would need to think about that."  
"Of course. Let me make you more comfortable while you weigh your options. If you find that you have need of me, simply cry out my name. The only remaining test we need to run is a cervical stress test that my husband will administer...but not until you've made your decision." As she finished speaking, she pulled a small vial from a pocket and spilled a small quantity of dark liquid into her hand.

Even knowing what she was about to do just by the look in her eye, I began struggling madly as she reached toward my nether regions. My mind screamed to back away even while my body desperately strained to lean into her hand. Just letting her touch me seemed dangerous, and my emotions were all over the map.

"Wait...where are Meryl and Azalea? I need to know they're okay." My own words allowed me a modicum of relief as I realized that my concern for their well-being was enough to cut through the blistering heat of my own desire. Once I knew they were safe, I could just let myself go, right?  
"Ah, I nearly forgot," she said as she straightened up and set her clipboard on a nearby table to snap her fingers. As she did so, I saw additional lights come up in a nearby room, visible through a window.

Within that room I saw Meryl and Azalea looking at me with unabashed longing, the two of them wantonly groping each other. I heard myself utter a pitiful moan as I saw Zee's full lips brush delicately across the skin of Meryl's neck.

"Once you've made your choice, maybe we can let you out of quarantine and have them come in and help with your rehabilitation. Would you like that?" She asked as she leaned in close to my face.  
"Yes! I mean…if they want to."  
"Do not worry, Ari. As you can see, they are eagerly awaiting your rapid convalescence."

She turned to leave and then shook her head as she turned back to me. "I nearly forgot." It seemed so simple-so innocuous. Her small hand made a single pass between the moist folds that had become the heart of my new sexual reality.

"The medicine I gave will help make this easier on you. Since a release might be dangerous in your fragile state, it will excite you but make certain that you don't push beyond your limits. Do not forget to call my name if you need _anything_ or once you have decided upon which of the two treatment options you would prefer. It's Cecily," she offered clinically before walking through the wall as though it wasn't there.

I was far more focused on my two companions. Their expressions, manner, and their desirous eyes upon me made me believe that every one of the amorous touches upon each other was meant for me and me alone.

That was when the agony really started.

Like being hit in the stomach with the heat of concentrated lust, my entire body began to shake as the concoction that had been rubbed upon me went to work. It felt like I was being touched even though no hands were upon me. As I blinked to clear my sight, I found that each time one of my companions touched the other, it was as if _I_ was the one being touched, the sensations only heightening my arousal-never pushing me over the edge.

With the little demon out of the room, however, my mind had cleared enough to know that this was among the worst possible situations I could imagine. It was as if she'd managed to unearth all of the greatest fears I had about being in this body and told me that my only option was to choose between them.

I tried to pull my legs closer together through my spread-eagled bindings, hoping I could generate the friction I so desperately needed if I could just rub my thighs together. Every attempt to relieve the crushing sexual pressure failed, and I began to whimper as my muscles began to clench in painful sympathy for the feelings that gripped my entire lower half.

There was no way that I'd be able to endure this for long without losing my mind. Was it even worth resisting when it seemed my only chances for escape were all over each other in the next room?

-  
-Through Meryl's Eyes

I had to wonder how Risa ever managed to survive out here on the road. If I hadn't outfoxed (ha!) my kidnapper, I'd have probably been buried with the bones of the hundreds that took their last breaths in the Prosperity mine.

"What do you want to do with her?" I heard the fake Azalea ask someone as I was held draped over her large shoulder.  
"So many beastmen out there and they eat so much. I won't have a use for her until I've broken her human. See if my husband wants a go at her," a loli-sounding voice suggested, getting added to my hit list at the same time.

Several minutes later I was laid down upon a soft bed next to another person. Still busy playing unconscious, I was unable to see just who might be next to me. I hoped it was Ari, but I knew better. At least this sounded more like a succubus operation so they probably wouldn't kill her, but there was a fairy's chance in Zarom that I'd take a chance on letting my little hornball turn into a succubus.

"Hey, your wife says you can pound out a few in this one if you want. The human one will probably be more fun once Cecily's done with her, but it might take a couple days. You want her?" I heard Azalea's voice ask, the likeness still bugging me.  
After a large yawn, I heard a deep male voice respond, "Wha? She's already got a half-dozen succubi loafing around here all day and I have to practically beg them to stop munching on each other to get me off."  
"I really don't care, Shinji. You want her or not?" the faux salamander inquired.  
"Yes, I want her! After what Cecily did to me did you think-" the man impotently demanded.

Without another word, I heard the sound of footsteps leaving the room, followed shortly by the muffled sounds of crying from next to me.

"Hey there, I'm Shinji." he whispered as I felt a surprisingly gentle hand running through my hair.

Damn it, why did he have to make me feel sorry for him? Still, he was standing between me and Ari so he had to go. At least I could try not to hurt him too badly.

As if in response to his statement, I jumped up and quickly held a hand to his mouth. "Hey, Shinji. This can go two possible ways. You can tell me where Cecily is with my friend and I won't hurt you, or you can do absolutely anything else and I'll redecorate the floor with brain matter and pieces of your skull. Nod if you get me."

The "man" I had in my arms couldn't haven't been older than fifteen and looked like he might have become an incubus. Less handsome than devastatingly endearing, under any other circumstances I'd have found him extremely attractive. Unfortunately for him that only would have bought him a second of hesitation before I made good on my promise to beat him to death if he tried anything.

The boy nodded vigorously, allowing me to slowly remove my hand.

He whispered to me, thankfully on board with the first option I presented. "You can't leave this room though. Cecily keeps illusions through this whole place so none of us can ever leave."  
"Shinji...you're getting dangerously close to choosing the second choice, here," I threatened.

He got the picture and quickly tried to correct himself. "This part of the mine is tiny-I mean...your friend has to be in Cecily's room. It's down the hall a bit...on the left. I'm sorry but I don't know how far it is, she's never let me see this place without the illusion."

I nodded. "Good enough. Now...if you start screaming the moment I head towards the door-"  
He interrupted me with a look of near desperation. "I promise that I won't! You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen and...the only one I've ever met that wasn't under Cecily's spells."

Well he was certainly a charmer. His eyes weren't lying so that had me wondering if the poor kid might have actually been born down here. Lords knew how many people they might have dragged down into this pit, even if you ignored the ones that volunteered.

"Thanks, kid. I'm going to go get my friend and get the hell out of here."

I tried to move quickly before he made the request I knew was coming, reasoning that if I didn't hear it, I couldn't be guilted into trying to honor it. He was quicker than I expected, however.

"Take me with you, please. Cecily made it so all I can do is want to feel myself inside a woman but she won't even come see me more than three times a day. I'll let you have me any way you want for as long as you want, I promise!" His eyes pleaded to me almost as powerfully as his erection.

This was what it meant to be cursed. The adorable almost-shota can't show up when I'm desperate and alone on the road, noooo. He shows up just in time to confirm that I like another guy enough to turn down the offer of endless fucking.

"No promises…" I began as I looked toward the door, seeing the illusion that hid it from view. "Oh, and this friend might be a little more than a friend so…whether I can get you out of here or not I think I'll have to...pass on your offer."

It was a lot harder to say than it was to think it. He managed to look defeated but still hopeful that I'd be getting him out of here. Thinking on the boy, I remembered that Risa owned all of my old brothels and an innocent shota incubus might go a long way towards smoothing over whatever had jammed all that sand into her twat.

"I might have something better for you anyway. Just sit tight here and I'll see what I can do, okay? Oh, and I'm Meryl, by the way."  
"Okay, Meryl. Be careful."

Walking up to the edge of the illusion, I smiled and passed through it. I heard a familiar voice shout from further down this repurposed mine shaft and headed toward it.

-

I screamed obscenities, I pleaded, and generally did everything I could to _not_ scream the name "Cecily". Even thinking the name and the relief it would mean for me had my mouth forming the words, heedless of the consequences I didn't even want to consider.

"Please! Someone-anyone!" I screamed as I saw my companions seem to become even more aroused to see me taking the deep breath to scream.

I had no way of telling how long I'd been stuck like this. My body ached for release and sweat poured from me, mixing with the pungent aroma that I could finally associate with my own sexual fluids. The mounting shame was the only thing that kept me from crying out sooner, but I knew that I was breaking. I knew this because the longer the torment kept up upon me, the more I wanted to break. More than making Cecily stop this ceaseless anguish, a growing part of me want to let it run free, to consume me, and to let it become me-define me.

Whatever Cecily had been doing to my mind while she was in my presence wasn't happening now. There was no coercion beyond my body's wailing arrogation. In the midst of the steadily escalating cries that came so loud and so unfamiliar from my lips that their issuance seemed evidence that "Joe" had ceased and some other being had taken his place entirely, I must have reached some form of enlightenment.

Even while I screamed in the delicious pain of my body in all of it's sweet torment. I found the will to realize that I had to make the _choice_ to crumble. Far from insulating me from the sensations, it was as if my body recoiled in horror before lashing out with increased intensity at the insult of my mind being so brash as to shut out its demands.

My body had abandoned me, my companions had abandoned me, and a life outside this mine would see me hunted to the ends of the earth by mercenaries and immortal undead. Within all of that was _me_ , and I would not let myself become lost.

After what felt like an eternity and amidst my screaming and pained contortions, I was aware of Cecily standing before me. "It's been nearly two days. Is there something you'd like to say, Ari?"

Despite myself, I actually managed a weak laugh as I hung limp in my bindings, my body long having given up the ability to struggle.

"Say my name, Ari. It's Cecily. Just say it once and I'll show you an unending joy. You'll be able to stop measuring your life and simply experience it. Why would you even consider letting yourself return to the weaker gender?" Her voice was melodious in a stark contrast with my own hoarse moans that had been the only sound I'd heard since she left me here.

I had only a simple answer that I took a full measure breath to deliver. "Because it's my choice."  
"It is, Ari. That's the beauty of it. Should I take your response to mean that you'll...need more time to decide?" she asked, remaining clinical in tone.  
"I don't...I can-" I stuttered out.  
"I understand. You'll need another week to think it over. I've decided to give you some assistance this time, however. Perhaps a taste of the joy you could experience will aid in making your decision," she said as she made a gesture.

From behind her, I saw Meryl seductively walking toward me with a look of desire. As Cecily produced the vial from before, my body found the strength to struggle again to try and escape the touch I knew was coming. Struggling in my bindings, I looked up again to see two women now coming from behind the tiny demon-Meryl and...Meryl.

The devil saw my expression and turned to see the pair of approaching vixens and took on a nervous look before making a gesture that caused her to vanish completely along with one of the images of Meryl.

Cecily's voice echoed through the room. "It seems my husband is in need of some punishment. No matter...in six hundred years no being-hero or mamono-has been able to see through my glamour. You cannot best a grandmaster, lowly beast."

Reality rippled around me and the room for several seconds before Meryl spoke. "Grandmaster you say? Well, my entire life has been one bullshit illusion after another. And if this…" she said as she flipped her tail in my direction, "...is the skill of a grandmaster…" she finished as her hand shot out to grab at thin air, the image melting away to show Cecily now in the fox's powerful grasp.

Meryl gave a half smile as her fingers closed around the throat of the small devil and finished her statement. "...Then my sister was a grandmaster by the age of six. Maybe you just aren't as impressive as you think."  
"No!" the devil choked out between Meryl's white-knuckled grip upon the smaller girl's throat, "It's not possible."  
"Well shit, that leaves us at quite the impasse doesn't it? Let's make a wager then, shall we? If this isn't possible, then you can torment the both of us forever. If it _is_ possible, I'll start squeezing your little throat until I hear a pop," Meryl threatened with a look of absolute murder in her eyes.

"If you kill me...my other slaves will escape. You will never be...free of this place," the small blue-skinned girl rasped out in a weakening voice.

As much as I wanted to be free, I didn't want to see Meryl kill this girl. As exhausted as I was with my body still being rocked by spasms from the brown liquid that had been smeared upon me, I could barely speak.

"Meryl...please. Let's just take Zee and go."  
Loosening her grip almost instantly, Meryl shook her head and looked back at me with serious concern. "You hear that, Cecily? Looks like you just hit the jackpot. I really don't want to become a killer anyway."

With that Meryl threw the demon to the ground and pinned her to the floor with her foot. "But at the same time, I can have you following us or getting your shapeshifting friend involved in this, so I'm going to have to hurt you pretty bad."

In a flash, Meryl had pulled a small knife and drawn it deeply across Cecily's hamstrings and the muscles in both of her wings, a convenient gag nearby helping to muffle the screaming that resulted. I was too tired to even look away as the horrific scene played out before me.

A few moments later, Meryl released me from my bindings and helped me to stand and get my nearby clothes back on. I could walk but just barely, leaning heavily against Meryl's warm body as I shivered from the chill and the exhaustion. She led me quickly from the room, stopping in the mine shaft outside as she placed me against the wall for support and moved a few steps away.

Only able to talk in a whisper, I addressed Meryl as relief began to come over me in waves. "You came for me...I thought she already got you and Zee. When she told me I was going to have to go through that for another week...I was going to give up. You saved me...again."

She looked at me for a moment with what looked like tears in her eyes before she turned away. "I promised that I'd always have your back, didn't I? It just so happens that skill with illusion runs pretty strong in my family. In my case it's only in resisting them. We aren't out of the woods by a longshot, though. The Zee that was with us was a doppelganger working with Cecily. I've heard that powerful ones can copy anyone you know along with all of their abilities. Fighting our way out might not be an option and-Just...give me a second."

As I watched, I saw Meryl take two quick steps forward and drop to a knee. I was about to ask what was wrong before I saw tears streaming down her cheeks as she vomited, clutching her chest.

Feeling another surge of strength, I moved forward and dropped down next to her with my arm around her. "What's wrong, did she get you with some kind of magic? Are you okay?"

She turned to me for a moment before nearly crushing me in her arms. "I'm terrified, Joe! I don't know what to do and I've...never hurt anyone like that before. She was going to kill us, right? Does that make it okay? Did I do the right thing?"

I was still able to think clearly, even while my body seemed reluctant to cooperate. The brutality of what Meryl had done had certainly shocked me, but simply knowing that she wasn't okay with it beyond the understanding of its necessity made it much easier to handle.

"You could have killed her...and she might have even deserved it. She wanted to steal my entire life from me and you stopped her. I...think you did the right thing, Meryl. Just so you know, we can move whenever you're ready. There's no rush," I comforted, leaning in against her.

Drying her tears, she looked back at me before picking me up in her arms. "You can barely hold yourself up, you idiot. At least one of us has to keep it together, but I'm reserving the right to cry on your shoulder later. Let's get moving, I even made a friend that might be able to help."

As she turned to head back down the mine shaft, we were confronted with another girl of short stature. This girl looked to be an undead of some kind with glowing violet eyes. She looked at me strangely for several seconds before uttering a single word.

"Ashia"


	15. Chapter 15 - Strange Allies

Chapter 15 - Strange Allies

Azalea had been heading down the road for a full day without rest, managing to find out from passersby that a blonde-haired youko most certainly had been down this road ahead of her. Any hope the fiery warrior had of running into said youko started to fall apart when those sightings abruptly ceased.

Zee was a fairly skilled tracker...in the desert. All that required was a knowledge of where water and food sources could be had and, on calm days, the ability to follow potentially obvious footprints. This trail went cold in the foothills of the impressive central mountains with hundreds of wrong paths to follow and only one right one.

"Up or down?" the well-armed lizard wondered aloud as she was torn between the high mountains and other nearby paths that marked the entrances to ancient abandoned mines. She pulled her recently mended kiseru from the small pouch at her belt and tried to figure out why they might have left the road in the first place.

Unable to come to a resolution as she sat in the middle of the road in a half lotus position, she watched the smoke from her chosen vice rising into the cloudy sky. She might not have even noticed the other traveler's approach if they hadn't elected to announce themselves.

Looking down to Azalea from the back of a skeletal steed that was wreathed in a violently glowing violet aura, the undead looked down at the salamander in curiosity. "It is inadvisable to remain seated upon this road. Many travelers have been lost in this exact spot."

"Yeah, I'm getting that feeling," Azalea answered, starting as she looked up to see the small undead staring down at her, "Oh, it's you-hey. Yeah, I'm actually looking for some people that seem to have vanished somewhere around here."  
"I see. Are you a bounty hunter?" the necromancer asked, her stare direct and unmoving.

Azalea shrugged before shaking her head. "No, I guess I'm a sort of mercenary...or I used to be. I'm just a bodyguard now, though its looking like I might be unemployed before long. Thanks for stopping, but you don't need to worry about me. You must be in a hurry yourself if you caught up to me so quickly."  
"Understood. In payment for your kindness yesterday, I could deliver a message to your friends to come find you, should I come across them. Describe them," the nearly emotionless lich stated.

"Oh! I didn't give you that cloak thinking that you'd owe me one or anything, but that would help me out. Okay, there's Meryl-a youko with blonde hair and a salamander that apparently matches my description. There is also a man named Joseph that may be dressed as a woman, he's otherwise all skin and bone with a mess of light brown hair," Azalea explained casually.

"I...see. Is there anything else you could tell me about them?"

"Hmm...Meryl was dressed pretty well for a merchant and has bright, pretty green eyes. Joe is sort of unremarkable-Oh, except for that scar, and his eyes are kind of a greyish blue, but one of them has a spot that looks like blood. Never seen anything like it," Azalea declared in an attempt to be helpful.

"That is...sectoral heterochromia, likely the result of a birth defect or possible human chimerism. My name is Delilah, and you should come with me."  
"I'm Azalea, but you can just call me Zee. As much as I appreciate the offer, I really should get back to looking for them," Zee said as she got to her feet.

Delilah's stoic expression changed slightly as she considered the possibility that had just been presented. Her original assumption that the essence of her beloved had been stolen or absorbed by another mamono was being joined by other possibilities, the repercussions of said possibilities very troubling to her mind.

"I predict that this may put us at odds in the near future, but our goals are otherwise aligned at present. If you follow me, I will lead you to Joseph," Delilah finally said with some reluctance.

Nodding in understanding and without any other leads on where to go, Azalea followed Delilah as the lich led the two of them down several winding paths to the wide entrance of the "abandoned" Prosperity mine.

"Delilah! This...isn't what it looks like," Meryl exclaimed, visibly shaken.  
"What does it look like, Meryl?" the undead asked, a hulking behemoth of rot poised above her like an overprotective pet.

"Delilah?" I murmured, the name feeling like it naturally led into something more. "Delilah played the-"

Before I could finish my statement, Meryl had slapped me straight across the face. "Now's not the fucking time, Ari. And Del...I really have no idea what this looks like."

"It appears as though you are holding something important to me. That you came here so quickly suggests that you possess a guilty conscience. Do you intend to prevent me from taking what I have come here to fetch?" The naked lich asked, her monotone never wavering.

"He-she isn't yours! Your husband is in Alnor! I made certain...I asked my sister!" Meryl protested, throwing her arms wide.  
"I see. Where is Cecily?" the undead girl asked as she looked back over her shoulder at "Ashia".

"Cecily...wait. How the fuck do you know about her? You came down here after me so-"  
"Where is she?!" the small figure suddenly screamed, her voice distorting and becoming somewhat distant as she did so.

"I'm getting the feeling this isn't who you think it is. Is this another illusion?" I asked, not sure if I should be relieved at the prospect, my powerful desire to escape only being stifled by my exhaustion.

Meryl stepped back against me and put her arm up protectively before me. "No, this is definitely not an illusion. This is a doppelganger...and a powerful one."

My companion happened to have the same thought I did at that moment as we turned and ran down the mine shaft without another word, heading deeper into the earth as thunderous footsteps gave chase. The only reason we managed to put distance between ourselves and the massive undead construct was by blessed virtue of the mine shaft being too narrow to allow it to move at full speed.

"What about Zee?" I asked as we made a sharp turn into a larger tunnel.  
"It doesn't matter right now! She could still be in town, at the bottom of the ocean, or dead. She can't help us now. We'll just have to pray that there actually is a tunnel to Kaori down here. That hellhole sounds like a vacation compared to this."

We lost the small lead we'd managed to secure once we began to run down more spacious tunnels. It certainly didn't help that I was as physically exhausted as I'd ever been and still trying to get a feel for this body. Cutting into a much smaller shaft that led us deeper underground, we managed to just barely evade our pursuer before those massive arms or tusks had a chance to touch us.

I ventured a look back to see those haunting violet eyes staring down at me before we slipped again into another massive tunnel. Unable to look away, I failed to notice that Meryl had stopped in front of me and I collided with her.

"Finally!" I heard another familiar voice call out in surprise as my momentum nearly pushed the both of us into the arms of that voice's origin.

Seeing Azalea before us, looking as though she'd just run a marathon, seemed to make Meryl far more nervous than relieved. She looked back up the tunnel to take one last look at the slowly advancing clone of this...Delilah.

I, however, was feeling far more pleased to see the large salamander. "Zee!"  
"Come on, guys. I think I stumbled onto a way out of here while I was trying to find my way in. She doesn't look like the sort of person we should tangle with down here if we can avoid it," Azalea maintained calmly, gesturing for us to follow.

These mines were getting ridiculous. Many of the tunnels felt less like attempts to actually pull anything out of the earth, and more like a sadistic bastard with a pickaxe had been trying to get us lost. After several long minutes we reached a solid wall, giving further credibility to my theory. With the sound of crashing footsteps behind us, it seemed like this might turn into a very literal dead end.

"Where to now?" I breathlessly asked, blessing the short chance I'd been given to rest.  
"Just let me think a second," Zee said as she took several steps forward and craned her neck slightly as though she was listening for something.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?!" Meryl angrily hissed, almost bouncing in frustration at the sudden lack of forward movement.

The disturbing racket of the advancing behemoth had stopped and there was nothing but the sound of distant dripping water and the settling of the earth to keep company the deafening sounds of our own labored breath.

"She's coming," Zee suddenly exclaimed as she turned to face both of us.  
"Are you seriously going to try to fight her?!" Meryl questioned, an edge of hysteria to the rising pitch of her voice.

Azalea smiled and took a step toward Meryl and I as the naked form of the lich emerged from the nearby passage behind her with a darkening grin.

"I really hope you weren't lying about Joe being in mortal danger. This violates the oath I made to forsake combat. What in the name of Charisse's rotting tits happened down here?" Azalea asked as she brought down another succubus with a sharp blow to the skull using the flat of her blade.

Delilah answered as she led her companion zombie forward by the hand. "It is difficult to say. These demons have been starved beyond the capacity to maintain reason. Based on observation, it seems that they turned to pleasuring each other after some number of years. I cannot say why they are simply wandering free."

"They go down easy enough without needing to hurt them so I'm not going to complain," Zee commented as she looked to the strange pair of undead that were allegedly leading the salamander to the person she'd been contracted to protect. "So, uh...what's up with the zombie?"

Delilah answered without looking back. "This is my daughter, Lorelei. She does not like to be alone for long periods of time and my husband's other wife did not appear in a state to be willing or able to keep Lorelei and her own children company while I was gone."  
"I didn't even know undead could have kids. She's got as many scars on the outside as most of us have hiding under our skin. I like it...and I can definitely still see the resemblance," Azalea offered politely.  
"Lorelei, what do we do when given a compliment?" the lich asked of the zombie.  
"Uuuuuh," the zombie groaned in Azalea's direction before wrapping the salamander in a hug.  
"Lorelei says that it is a singularly wonderful experience to have made your acquaintance. She goes on to say that she hopes that there are no soured feelings once we have concluded our business here," Delilah offered as the questionable translation of the short groan the zombie had uttered.  
"Uuuuuh," Lorelei added as she finally released the salamander from the lengthy embrace.

Delilah frowned at the zombie. "That is not polite and could be considered antagonistic. Apologize to Azalea."  
Smiling at the welcome distraction, Zee suddenly had to know what Lorelei had just said. "Wait, what did she say? I don't mind."  
"She said somewhat disparaging things about your martial skill, claiming that, had she met you a year ago, she would have 'taken you to school like an apple for the teacher'."

Azalea grinned in response, about to respond to the statement when she saw a moving shadow in the adjoining mine shaft. Leaping forward with her falchion at the ready, she held her strike when she saw a frightened young boy just beyond the point of her blade.

"Please don't hurt me! I'm just trying to get out of here. Meryl was supposed to come get me but she's never going to make it with Cecily's lover after her. This is my only chance to get out of here...I can't stay here any longer!" the young boy pleaded.  
"Uuuuuh," Lorelei added in her cryptic zombie moan.  
"That is a bit forward, but I do not otherwise see a problem with it, my treasure," Delilah began, adding, "As your father requested, however, he will have to give his permission."

"Yes, I accept!" the boy shouted, his eyes lighting up. "My room is right over here. I'm Shinji."  
"You...understand her? And what happened to this being your only chance to escape?" Azalea asked, still doubting that the zombie was doing anything more than making nonsensical moans.

"Of course I understand her," he answered with a smile and a blush as he ignored her second question. "She asked if she was allowed to copulate with the...um...cute boy. If she needs my permission then she has it. Nothing would make me happier."  
"It will be safer if the two of you remain here. Use your rune to call for me if you are in trouble, understood?" Delilah asked, her features appearing softer than they had at any point until now, despite the authoritative tone in her voice.  
"Uuuuuh" Lorelei answered as she let the teenaged incubus lead her into a room of sorts a bit further down the mine shaft.

After the zombie had left, Delilah paused a moment and extended her arms. "Do you have children, Azalea?"  
"Lords, no! Do I look like the type to be a mother?" Zee countered somewhat defensively.  
"Do I?" Delilah asked distantly, her eyes closed as her hands radiated with a visible lavender aura.  
Zee made a small snort as she rested the large falchion upon her shoulder. "That isn't a fair question. Until today I'd never even heard of an undead with a kid. But otherwise...yeah, you do."

Her eyes remaining closed in apparent concentration, Delilah continued to speak. "That is kind of you to say. Such kindness will serve you well once you have your own-wait. Necromancy...mine? We must hurry." Delilah suddenly exclaimed as she quickened her pace, moving toward the source of the magic she had detected.

 _Edit: I should have double checked this when I posted it. It was pointed out by someone that this chapter repeated about halfway down. This is because this chapter was (due to an error) broken into 2 pieces. This is the 2nd part that was missing. Sorry for the confusion._

Even through her obvious fear, Meryl had the presence of mind to grab me and try to force her way past the lich and the strangely passive Azalea.

"Sit down, Meryl," Zee said simply as she pushed the two of us to the solid stone floor of yet another mine shaft that seemed nearly indistinguishable from any of the others.  
"What are you doing?!" my fox-tailed companion screamed.  
"Calming things down! Meryl, you know damn well why she's here. Were you just going to take something that doesn't belong to you?" Azalea answered calmly as she patted down her pouches, apparently seeking her familiar kiseru.

Getting to her feet only to be pushed back down again, Meryl shouted in rage, "Bullshit! That isn't even Delilah!"  
Zee's expression didn't soften for even a second as she answered Meryl's growing anger. "I get that you're upset about this, really I do. My contract is to protect Joe, and the only way to do that is to hand him over."

"This isn't right! None of this can be right. How could she have known about Cecily?! What about what my sister told me?!" Meryl's grip upon my hand tightened as her desperation grew, tears starting to redden her face.  
Azalea simply crossed her arms as she delivered her words, each syllable striking the fox like a blow to the chest. "She's thousands of years old and can talk to the dead. Any number of them could have heard about this...Cecily. He was never yours to take, Meryl."

I was done just being passive in this conversation that seemed to be about to decide my fate.

"I want to stay with Meryl. Zee...something in that woman scares me. Are you seriously going to just hand me over, even if she plans to kill me?" I asked, as I looked up at the large salamander.  
"This is bigger than you know, Ari. You have to go with Delilah...and Meryl has to die," Zee declared as she drew her weapons.

"Fuck _that_ " I spat as I surged to my feet, unsure where I'd gotten the energy to do so. "She's the one that rescued me from that fucking whore Cecily and risked her life to save mine at least two other times. Whatever the fuck else is going down here, you are _not_ going to hurt her!"

The undead stepped forward to stand beside the looming salamander as she spoke up. "This is the only way that you can survive. None will mourn the passing of such a craven thief. Even you have wanted to see her dead on more than one occasion. It will be without pain so you need only step aside and-"

Having heard about all I could take, I made another of the more foolish decisions I'd ever made and slugged the short undead directly in the face. Even before my hand connected, it was if reality was about to recoil upon me to break me in half.

"What the fuck are you doing, Ari?!" Zee shouted as the lich reeled from the force of the impact.  
I answered with hesitation when the world did not, in fact, implode. "Putting my life in danger, Zee. Are you my bodyguard or are you something else?"

The powerful salamander extended her arm toward me and opened her mouth to speak, only moments before a loud crack and a shower of blood drawn forth by a mightily hurled spear announced the arrival of Azalea's fierce attack.

The only problem was that it wasn't made by the salamander before me, but by an identical copy of her that stepped from the darkness further down the tunnel and advanced upon us with a quick, determined stride.

What I could only imagine was the real Zee smiled as she made a quick spin and hurled her falchion, finishing the job her spear began as the wide blade punched through the chest of the shocked facsimile before she had fully processed that pain of the spear that looked to have almost completely obliterated her shoulder.

"You're looking for a bodyguard, Joe? I'm your huckleberry. Nice tits, by the way," Azalea's voice intoned as she continued her approach.

"Ariel!" the dazed undead screamed as she dashed to the side of the bleeding body at her feet.  
"Leira...this...wasn't fun at all. Why do I...hurt so...m-much?" the fallen girl breathlessly begged, her voice taking on an ethereal quality as her form shrank to that of a pale, dark-haired child.

Cradling the small girl as her life's blood poured onto the rough tunnel floor, the violet-eyed girl began to cry. "It's going to be okay sister, I'll tell Cecily and she'll help us like she always does."

Her eyes wide and her body likely in shock, the dying girl continued to form words with growing difficulty. "I...can't move, Leira. If I can't m-move then Cecily won't...let us see Marcus again."  
"She promised us! She has to...doesn't she?" the girl named Leira asked with growing doubt and sadness.  
"Oh...wait...there he is," Ariel suddenly replied with a whispering smile. "C-come and hug your...wives. It's been t-two hun...dred years...we've...mis...sed you."

Ariel pulled her arms weakly around herself as her eyes clouded over, her breaths slowing before stopping altogether. As her life left her small body and fled to points unknown, it left only a serenely peaceful smile behind.

Leira, however, fell into hysterics as she screamed her sister's name and tightly squeezed the still-warm corpse in her arms. "This is your fault! If you had just let Cecily have you after we brought you here, she would have brought Marcus back! And now Ariel is...is…"

"Your Marcus is long dead," another voice called out from the darkness as another set of the familiar violet eyes appeared, this pair sending an unexpected shiver up my spine. "Cecily broke and discarded him. If you can so accurately mimic my skills, then you could call to him and learn this for yourself."

"It's a trick! Cecily told me that people would try to trick me-to trick us. She showed us his face every week with her magic! Only she can bring him back. I...I will KILL you for taking my sister away!" the fake lich screamed as she jumped to her feet and screamed a name into the darkness.  
"No!" the girl that must have been the real Delilah shouted as the name echoed and reverberated through the darkness beyond our vision.

"Antarylixi, I call your spirit forth! Bring ruin upon those who would dare to stand against your master!" the copied lich incanted as a large ghostly form appeared before her.

Taking the moment of distraction as an opportunity, Azalea dove into a roll as she reclaimed her weapons from the fresh corpse. The salamander then pulled Meryl to her feet to stand beside me as she stepped between us and the materializing form.

As the ghostly being finally snapped into a fully solid form, I saw a large female body covered with blood-colored scales paled to nearly ashen by the pallor of the grave. A very obvious wound just above her breast showed the still-shattered heart that must have killed her, the organ never reforming with the rest of her body as the magic brought her into a state of unlife.

"That was not our bargain, Delilah," the draconic woman's richly deep voice boomed as she rose to her full height of more than two meters, dwarfing even Azalea's impressive stature.  
The real Delilah spoke up in response from further down the tunnel. "It was not, Ixi. Another has called to you in my voice."

The dragon-girl Ixi turned to the false Delilah and smiled as she produced a long hatchet and short spear. "There is no being, alive or dead, that could call itself a true dragon's master. You lesser beings continue to exist only because we have never deigned to trouble ourselves over your rule or destruction. Since you have called me, pretender, then it is your energy that shall sustain me until I allow myself to be dismissed."

As I watched, the false lich fell to her knees and her form changed to one that looked exactly like the corpse on the ground.

Azalea raised her spear defensively and looked hard at the massive woman before her, her eyes scanning for the potential threat that might arise from this strange situation.

Meryl looked the most worried among us, her composure having already been badly shaken by her recent experiences. "Ixi...is that really you?"

Seeing the shaken youko seemed to flip a switch within the dragon, her eyes softening as she covered the significant distance in a few of her large steps to pick up the nearly shaking fox girl into her massive arms. Despite the many hard scales that ran across Ixi's body, Meryl seemed very visibly comforted by the unexpected embrace.

I was getting nervous. Even while Zee's spear had been trained on the dragon, Ixi had completely ignored the potential threat as though it were little more than a piece of benign scenery. Not to mention that it seemed difficult to believe that the lich had found me so quickly.

When the dragon's eyes fell upon me, I immediately felt even more uncomfortable. She was staring directly at my face with an enigmatic expression that was completely unreadable.

"I thought you were supposed to be the tough one, Meryl. You give up on staying strong for your younger sisters?" Ixi asked, the mighty voice now soothing in its richness.  
"They aren't here right now," Meryl answered, looking small and vulnerable within those large, scaled arms.  
"Meryl...why is Joseph with you?" Ixi suddenly asked, her voice sounding almost scolding.  
"It's not him! Not exactly...this is-"

Interrupting Meryl's attempt at an explanation, Ixi set the emotional vixen back upon her feet and moved toward me.

"That'll be about enough of that," Zee said as she extended her blade to block the dragon's advance.  
"Is that a challenge, tiny lizard? Who are you to bar my path?"  
"If you're planning to hurt Joe, then I'm the _end_ of your path," The salamander declared without flinching.  
"We might just have to see if you have the strength to support that deluded conviction," Ixi calmly answered.

I held my ground under the dragon's unwavering gaze and tried to intervene. "Stop this! I'm not whoever you think I am."  
Throwing me further off balance, the dragon actually blushed slightly before her expression hardened again. "Yes you are, dragonslayer. My mark is right where I left it, as is yours," she finished, running a talon over her pale lips with the tiniest hint of a smile.  
Stepping closer, Delilah chimed in. "Joe is in Alnor. This...being simply holds his missing essence."

"See!" Meryl quickly agreed to Delilah's confusing assessment. "I didn't steal him or anything…So-say, Ixi? Could you do me a really huge favor?"

I already saw the plan forming in Meryl's beautiful eyes, nearly shaking my head as I pondered over what ridiculous thing she might request, not certain why the large woman treated Meryl so differently than anyone else in the room.

"Meryl, please do not make an enemy of me. Granted, there are factors here that are...different than my predictions, but mine and Risa's husband-your brother in law may die if I do not return this essence to him!" Delilah asserted, her expression turning to one of near-pleading.

"He was fine for months. You aren't saying it, but you know there's another way to help him, isn't there?" my foxy guardian demanded in question.  
"There...may be but he has asked that I not force such an option upon him," Delilah admitted.

Meryl was not looking impressed as she replied. "And so you're going to murder Ari because your husband is too much of a bitch to go suck down a freebie from one of his _seven_ brothels? This is bullshit! Did my sister agree to this insanity?"  
"Risa tendered the bounty but otherwise deferred to my judgement, given the restrictions placed upon us by his-" Delilah tried to answer before being interrupted.  
"About that favor, Ixi…" Meryl interrupted.

"You _will_ go talk to Karisa about this. If I find out that you're fighting with your sister again, and over a man...I will not be pleased," Ixi warned, sounding very motherly before she turned to Delilah. "I am invoking my right to renegotiate our terms, necromancer."

A desperately pleading edge began to creep into Delilah's voice as the obviously crestfallen undead stepped forward to address me specifically. "If you...are anything like the person from whom you were torn, then I want you to know that five lives depend upon him. Even if he were to follow Meryl's suggestion, it could well be too late without your essence. It is a near certainty that he will die, abandoning his family-his infant daughters-unless you allow me to take you to him in Alnor."

This woman looked at me like she knew me as well or better than I even knew myself. It was as if she knew exactly how such a request would affect me. The truth was that I _would_ have honored her request if I had any chance of surviving the ordeal. Her honest wish and her tears would have been the only motivation I needed. There was a terribly growing fear, however, as to who or what I really was. Was I just the lost essence of someone else? Was that the real reason I had no memory?

I had to believe that Alnor was the one place I absolutely could not go, Delilah and Meryl's sister Karisa had to be the monsters Miranda mentioned. Did the witch know that this would happen to that...other man?

I tried to respond, the words sticking in my throat. "I…"

Meryl didn't hesitate, however, and began pulling me back along the tunnel that had brought us here. Azalea simply followed with a final wary glance at the dragon and an apologetic look toward the grieving lich.

"Before you go…" Delilah mumbled as her black-stained violet eyes fell upon me again. "If your name is not Joseph, then...how may I address you?"

"Arianwyn, but...you can just call me Ari," I offered, already feeling guilty, adding, "At least until this whole gender enchantment wears off. Once that happens...I guess you can call me Joe."

The lich seemed to go weak in the knees when she heard my answer, her eyes tearing up as she gave a small nod. "Run as fast and as far as you can, Ari. I...must give chase and I will not rest until you are within my grasp."

-Meanwhile, in Alnor

Even if it seemed not to have helped his condition, Risa was relieved that her sleeping husband still seemed able to eat the soup that she made for him daily. That small act was enough to keep her hope alive that he could be saved.

Waking up next to him, she allowed a bittersweet smile as she looked down at the demonically transformed man she married. Hugging his head as though it were a stuffed animal was her beautiful twin daughters, each of them having taken to nibbling on the small horns that sprouted from the alp's head.

Trying her best not to disturb them, the young mother crept from the bed and down to the kitchen to prepare a suitable breakfast. She was convinced that Delilah would return with an answer to this crisis, but found she could not stop her tears whenever she was alone. Risa prepared the spicy bisque just the way she knew her husband liked and composed herself before bringing the meal back up to their room.

Backing her way into the room, she quietly closed the door and turned back toward the bed. A moment later, the silence of the room was shattered with the clay bowl she'd brought with her. Where her husband had been sleeping just minutes before, Risa saw only her twins cuddling with each other upon his soft pillow.

Her eyes darting around the room, Risa was at once horrified, relieved, and angry as she saw a heart-shaped tail vanishing out the large open window as its bearer took to the sky.


	16. Chapter 16 - Crisis of Identity

Chapter 16 - Crisis of Identity

Even amid the unending avalanche of mind-warping horrors, the look in Delilah's eyes as she watched Meryl drag me away down the tunnel away from her was heart-rending. Far beyond showing a simple sadness at the plight of her beloved, her demeanor represented a brilliant mind stumbling at even considering my existence. Once I'd told her my name, any malice that those eyes might have held evaporated, leaving only palpable despair in its wake.

Lost in the dreamlike memories of those unnervingly familiar eyes and after several minutes of being dragged through old mine shafts, I suddenly felt that I'd be ensnared from behind in arms that felt less than alive.

"Uuuuuh," a soft feminine voice groaned into my ear, the undead body, chilled breath, and cool lips managing to convey warmth.  
"Ah! A zombie! Somebody-" I began frantically, my mind still leaping to thoughts of a zombie apocalypse.  
"She said, 'Hello father. What has happened to your body?'" a young male voice intoned, sounding winded from some recent physical activity.

Taking the initiative and reaffirming her grip on my hand, Meryl spoke up, "This isn't your father, Lorelei. He's still asleep in Alnor...I think."

The zombie Lorelei's grip was firm but felt more overly affectionate than anything else. She seemed to sniff at me before moaning again. "Uuuuuh"  
Thankfully, the unseen male took up the cause of translation again. "She said, 'While your jibes are normally amusing and in good fun, Aunt Meryl, this is most definitely my father. I could never forget the scent of the one that was willing to forgive and adopt me, even after the pain I caused him'."

There was no way all of that was in that one zombie groan was there? And was she really that well-spoken?

"We...really can't stick around here, you two," I attempted, turning slightly to make eye contact with the badly-scarred zombie. There was a definite resemblance to the lich we'd left below.  
"Oh, but there was something I wanted to ask you!" the extremely attractive young boy spouted as he came into view, seeming very excited.

What the hell was with this kid? Something about him was...off. His features were a blur, leaving only impressions in my head of raw primal need. Just looking at him was making me want to lay down, spread my legs, and...wait-what? I had to almost smack myself as the thought, insidious in its promise, refused to leave my head. Despite reason's protestations, my body was begging for something I'd never even experienced and couldn't even fully understand.

"What...uh...did you want to ask?" I questioned, an unbidden flush running over me.

Pulling Lorelei away from me, he extended a hand. "I'm Shinji and I wanted to ask for your blessing to properly court your daughter."

As he averted his eyes slightly, his apparent shyness thankfully getting the best of him, I felt some sense of reason manage to reassert itself. It did, however, leave aftershocks that set my already weakened body to shaking slightly.

"You should...probably ask her mother," I sputtered out as I shook his hand, wishing immediately that I hadn't done something so rash as touch him. "I'm pretty sure I don't want to get her any more angry with me than she probably already is."  
"Uuuuuh."  
"You sure, darling?" Shinji asked of Lorelei as he turned to look at the zombie directly, receiving a simple grunt in response. "Lorelei says that she doesn't believe her mother will bless our partnership but that she would listen to you if you asked it of her." Shinji then met my gaze again, his eyes drawing me back in. "She is also surprised that you're so...taken with me, but that she would allow our spirited copulation if it would help positively influence your decision."

Zee's sudden laughter wasn't quite enough to pull me out of my stupor, but Meryl's insistent pulling, thankfully, was. If my foxy savior hadn't been there, I would have already had my legs wrapped around this...boy, urging him to claim me, ruin me, to make me forget who and what I was.

"Ask your mother, Lorelei. She should be up here soon but we really need to go," Meryl called over her shoulder, some measure of frustration showing in her voice as she dragged me forward by the arm.  
Zee had the last word as we backed into a tunnel heading for the surface, "Tell Delilah I'm sorry. I get the feeling we'll be seeing you again before too long, so stay safe until then."

"Uuuuuh."  
Shinji nodded, shooting me a wink that may as well have been a seductively teasing hand running over my entire body. "Lorelei says that she'll become cross if you've upset her mother, but she knows you would never do anything to truly hurt her. She also said that if this is a game, you should avoid the witch because that's who told her mother where to find you."

I offered no further response beyond a nod of gratitude as the toll of my exhaustion started to make even throwing one foot in front of the other an increasingly difficult ordeal.

"Oh, thank the lords!" Meryl suddenly exclaimed as we came upon her small wagon, her horse looking none the worse for wear.  
"There's a lift near here that I should be able to work by myself. I'll disable it once we get back to the top to slow down the pursuit. Not a moment too soon, too. Looks like Ari here is about to pass out," Azalea said as she helped me up into the wagon.

I couldn't even respond as I tried to catch my breath, my mind so far gone in a crushing mix of unnatural lust, overwhelming exhaustion, and devastating guilt. Did Lorelei really have to rub the whole thing in my face? She said she "knew" I'd never do anything to truly hurt Delilah, and even having no memory of who the lich really was, I felt in the pit of my heart that she was right. Was it more magical influence from this place seeping into my mind or was there more left of my memory than there should have been?

As the lift ascended, I thought back on the encounter. I let my head drop as the tension ran from me, riding my exhaustion to carry my consciousness far from me, more relieved to be leaving this mine than I could even say.

-

"Durande's Codex clearly states that the body can live without a soul." I spoke aloud.

After dozens of pitiful, meager improvements upon Durande's original flawed designs, my first phylactery seemed no closer to completion. I had conjured a spirit to assist with this quandary.

Answering my supposition, the ghost of the long-dead necromancer of this cave addressed me. "You don't need to tell me what I wrote. The body can survive and even thrive, but only once the form has solidified."  
"A body is solid by its very nature," I posited, very nearly rolling my eyes.  
"Not always, and certainly not in the case of attaining lichdom. Once you have created your phylactery, you will need to craft your essence into a body. There are other examples of this phenomenon."

I nodded. That response made sense. "So that explains why my simulacrum continue to fail."

The spectral witch nodded before my necromancy faded, allowing the ghost to fade back into oblivion, her final words echoing through the halls of these ancient ruins. "Correct, you cannot have your spirit bound to more than one vessel...as a mortal. One must die before that essence can be released. Unless..."

-

I jolted awake, fighting off the shreds of some of the strangest dreams I'd ever had. Above me floated the many clouds of the otherwise open sky above.

"Whoa, you're okay. I've got you," I heard Azalea's voice quietly offer from behind me.

The large salamander had her arms over me protectively and had been letting me sleep with my head in her lap like a large cushion. I might have thought to enjoy it if I hadn't been so completely baffled by it.

"Sorry if I rolled onto you or something. I can move," I mumbled, still groggy from my impromptu nap.  
Zee simply tightened her grip slightly, holding me down against her. "You looked like you were about to fall apart there. Just relax. We've got another day before we're back to town anyway."

I couldn't help feeling antsy, despite how comfortable Zee's warmth actually was. "I didn't expect you to be so...nice about all this."  
Helping me to sit up with my back against her warm body, the large salamander simply kept her arms around me. "Did I come across as a mean person?"

That was easy enough to answer. "Not exactly, but I didn't really think you'd ever notice or even want to hear about my problems or anything. I figured that you'd just tell me to suck it up."

Azalea grumbled a bit before answering. "Then that was my fault. I just thought you needed to be more assertive. If you're hurt, inside or out, I _want_ you to tell me. I've seen good soldiers die from small injuries they let fester because they didn't want to seem weak. Physical or emotional-pain is pain and either kind can kill you."

Maybe I'd read Azalea completely wrong. Not only did she obviously care that I wasn't in my right mind, but she'd picked up on it before I'd even mentioned it. The downside of that, however, was that I couldn't possibly have been any deeper into the "friend zone" if we'd been braiding each other's hair.

There were so many things that were starting to get to me and this body was far from the simple stealth mechanism I had intended it to be. After my psyche had barely survived Cecily's convincing attempt to give up on ever having another masculine thought again and Shinji's unholy aura that had me throwing reason out the window, I was more than a little shaken. Far from the initial concerns about being in this body, now I was far more terrified that my will would be too weak to resist the forbidden allure of what Cecily had been promising.

"Meryl," I called out softly, hoping to shift my thoughts to other things. "Are you okay?"  
Her fox tail seemed to flit about nervously before she answered. "I'll _be_ okay. That just...didn't go like I thought it would. Not to mention that every time I try to think about what we should do next, I just want to jump in front of the wagon and let the damn thing roll over my neck."

"You saved me again, you know. I don't know how much longer I could have…" I let the statement die as Meryl seemed distracted by something else entirely.

I'd told Meryl that I didn't want her to help me remember who I was before. But with the resurgence of doubts about whether I was really even a person coupled with the needs of this body feeding me desires that felt worryingly _right_ in their wrongness, I wanted the option to focus on the other person I might be...or was supposed to be.

I sighed as I began, "I know I said that I didn't want you to remind me of who I was before, but I'm feeling urges I really don't think I should have. I think maybe it's time you start telling me about...me."

Meryl visibly flinched, her entire body stiffening as my words seemed to physically hit her. She turned slightly, not even far enough to look back at the two of us, to answer in a defeated tone, "Okay. Zee, could you-"  
"Already on it," Azalea said as she moved me slightly and hopped up to take the reins from Meryl.

Taking one look at where Azalea had been sitting, Meryl sighed and began clearing a space in the wagon across from me.

Finally slumping down, she leveled her gaze upon me, her fluffy fox ears almost flat against her head. "The doppelganger was more right than you know. This was too good to be true, I guess. I'll tell you everything."

Still nervous about what I might hear, I held up a hand to stop her. "I don't need to know everything. I'm just trying to figure a few things out. I don't intend to let this change where _we_ are...a-assuming that's what you're worried about."  
Her ears perked up almost imperceptibly and she nodded. "There's plenty of details I never heard, but I'll try my best to tell you whatever you want to know."

I took a couple deep breaths before I began, not even entirely certain where to start, finally settling on the most obvious. "Is there _another_ me out there?"

She scratched her head a bit and then began to explain, "I think so. It's something like that, anyway. I don't know all that much about magic, and even less about demons, but there _is_ someone that looks almost exactly like you. He has the same name, same face, and an almost identical personality. Since both of you want to fuck with me on pronouns, _that_ Joe was a normal human, but at some point he turned into an alp-a type of succubus."

"Wait," I interjected, "all mamono are female, right?"

"That's true except when it isn't, and there's really only one way it isn't. Really...he looks just like you did the first two times I saw you except he's got wings, horns, and a tail. I'm pretty sure something in that change left him with a larger cock, and I haven't seen it myself, but I hear there is a cute little virgin snatch hiding down there as well. So we could say female with a little something extra," she added, her words trying to lighten the saddened tone that her voice carried.

"Okay, but...how similar am I to this other person? Do we just look the same?"  
She frowned and looked away before responding, "Similar enough that I shouldn't have tried to pretend you were someone else. After the first time I saw you without those obvious succubus traits, I wrote a letter to my sister to make sure her Joe was still in Alnor. The reply I got later said he was but that she thought he might be sick because of how much he'd been sleeping. I ignored all of that and only heard what I wanted to hear…"

"That doesn't really answer my question."  
"Fine, let's test it then. You think now is a good time to buy rice?"

How would that question answer anything? Did this other me really like rice or something? I decided to answer in a way that almost nobody else would.

"I'm going to assume that, by 'buy', you mean invest. That would depend on expected yields. I'm pretty sure rice stores well and if we're heading into seasons with decreased production, the price should rise. That might already be accounted for in the price, but-"  
She cut me off with a wave before continuing, "Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that. With that and the fact that you'd also probably jump at the chance to fuck any girl that flips her tail at you…"

"Oh, whatever. You're the only girl...that's…ever..."

I was suddenly wracked with a piercing headache that was bad enough to turn my stomach. Like the inside of my skull was being branded with a hot iron, the excruciating sensation went on for several minutes before clearing up just as suddenly. Once the pain had passed, I couldn't remember what it was I was about to say to Meryl.

"What was I saying…?"  
"Don't worry about it," Meryl abruptly answered, "But you said enough."

"Anyway...Delilah thinks that I'm just the lost essence of this _other_ person named Joe? And he's...special to Delilah?" I asked, already knowing the answer.  
Meryl pulled her knees in close and rested her chin on them before responding sullenly, "In ways I probably can't even understand. My sister, Risa, too. She's the one that laid out that bounty. They're both married to him. The only thing that makes sense, Ari, is that you are his missing energy."

I thought about what Miranda told me and the alleged choice I made to give up my memories. Assuming she wasn't lying, there was only one other explanation. That had to be the answer because I wasn't going to accept that I wasn't even a real person.

"Does he love both of them?" I asked, pretty certain of that answer as well.  
"Desperately," she offered simply as she began to fidget with her tail. "And not just because he turned me down flat."  
"Delilah also mentioned people depending on him and...daughters. No, there is only one thing that makes sense to _me_ in this…" I was hardened in my resolve by the realization. There was finally a plausible scenario in which I could believe I would have given up my memories.

I continued with a light smile. "I know that if I truly loved someone, I wouldn't abandon them. Since you were sure this other Joe was still alive and well in Alnor, I must have had the same information when I gave up my memories. It would explain why Miranda told me to stay away from Alnor...assuming I can trust anything _she_ said. That's the only thing that makes sense given that I refuse to believe I'm just somebody else's lost essence."

Meryl looked very torn over what I'd just said, but nodded slightly as she seemed to go over a few things in her mind, a hint of distant happiness returning to the vixen's voice, "So then maybe I was right about the other Joe...I mean...you can't see _yourself_ sucking down a bellyful of sperm for breakfast, right? Most mamono can get by on the same things you eat, but demons and undead have it a bit harder."

No fucking way that was ever going to happen. I'd have to be desperate or...I mean, maybe if he was going to reciprocate or-

"Fuck! I need to get my real body back and soon. As much as I want to pretend that Cecily's torture didn't get to me...I just...just…"

There were a thousand things my mouth wanted to say and far too many of them were some variation of "Cecily, please let me cum and I'll forget what it was to be a man."

"Delilah is the only person I know that might be able to break the enchantment outright. My mother might be able to do something, but that...has its own problems, not the least of which is going to fucking Alnor," Meryl remarked with a grimace, her doldrums gone for the moment.

Looking back from the driver's seat, Azalea commented, "I know a witch that might be able to do something. She joined my old crew a few weeks ago. No idea if she could handle it but it's about the best I've got."  
" _About_ the best?" Meryl quickly countered.  
"Shit. Not going to slide anything past you, am I?" Zee grumbled as she turned back around to the road. "We had a few skilled cursebreakers in the Legion but I burned more than a few bridges on my way out of Charisse."

Meryl stood and clapped the Salamander on the shoulder. "Well, then let's hope your first option works out. Though I wouldn't mind a chance to work on my tan."  
"You are such a bitch. But whatever, I don't want Joe to have any excuses for the multiple successive ass beatings I intend to lay on him," Zee conceded.

I audibly scoffed at Azalea's statement. "Just you wait, Zee. I might already have a plan to beat you. Oh, and when I do...the things I am going to do to you…"  
"Assholes! _I'm_ right here!" Meryl shouted as she sat back down, perhaps thinking I wouldn't notice that she'd taken Zee's previous spot right behind me.  
"Heeey," I weakly protested as Meryl pulled me back against her, her fluffy tail finding its way across my lap.  
Whispering into my ear, each syllable seeming to trace its way down my neck like a lover's caress, Meryl slid one hand into my breeches while another easily found its way under my shirt as she spoke, "I might not be as stubborn as you, you bastard, but I don't have nearly as far to go to convince you to stop chasing that fiery tail and settle for this nice fluffy one."

"Why even settle for one when I'll have both of-uhngg," I choked out as her fingers found their mark and began making slow circles right where she knew I was most vulnerable.  
" _Now_ who's the asshole?" Zee grumbled as she attempted in vain to tune out my impassioned sighs and near-squeals of pleasure over the next several hours.

-

We slept only long enough to rest the horse that night, knowing that our pursuer was very close and needed no rest.

Arriving back in the town of Yuanxi around noon of the following day, Azalea requested that we swing by the hotel in which she'd been staying to see if a package had arrived for her. The salamander returned a few minutes later with a smile and a cloth-wrapped bundle in her arms while Meryl was finishing up her purchase of a new horse across town.

"Heads up!" Zee said as she tossed the bundle to me, the package heavier than I expected.  
"What's this?" I asked as I began to pull off the cloth.  
"Two things, though they won't fit right until you're back to normal," she said as she sat herself back into the wagon and took up her kiseru, still closely watching my reaction.

Expecting clothing of some kind after her comment, I was surprised to stumble onto a pair of thin, sheathed swords. The first was long and thin like a rapier but with a slightly wider blade to allow for a slightly more useful edge. Looking over the second weapon, it was closer to a short sword, also with a wider blade to make it more useful for slashing and potential defense (I figured) despite still remaining a thrusting weapon at heart.

While not as shiny as I expected from such weapons, the steel of both blades had wavy organic patterns throughout, somewhat reminiscent of flowing water. Both weapons had swept hilts formed of coiled dragons that worked up and around the base of the blade.

"This...is damascus steel!" I exclaimed, my inner D&D nerd bursting forth.  
Pleased at my reaction but slightly confused by my terminology, Azalea replied, "Not sure exactly what that is. It is the best steel I know of from the best smith I've seen in probably 500 years. They're slightly modified versions of the swords my father carried."

Having spent a few years practicing fencing, these felt far more comfortable in my hands than the katana I'd been carrying before. They were light, perfectly balanced, and had just enough flexibility to help guarantee I wouldn't break them easily.

"You're giving these to me?" I asked, knowing that such craftsmanship couldn't have been cheap.  
"Do you know how to use them?" she asked in response.  
"Definitely," I asserted with some confidence.  
Hopping down from the wagon, Zee shot me a grin and said simply, "Prove it."

After a bit of stretching and a few practice swings, I brought the longer blade up in salute and assumed the familiar stance. As I regarded my opponent's overly calm demeanor, I realized that I couldn't just go at her with a real weapon. This was definitely a weapon with which I felt comfortable, but she couldn't expect me to try and actually hurt her, right?

Leaving her falchion sheathed, Azalea stepped forward and held her spear loosely, the point aimed at the ground. She certainly didn't look like she was prepared to receive any kind of attack, but I was pretty damn sure that didn't matter with how skilled I knew the salamander to be.

"Uh...I don't want to hurt you. This isn't exactly a practice sword," I remarked, unsure how to proceed.  
"Pretty sure this is already over, but I always keep a little vial of mermaid blood around for emergencies. I'll be fine," she answered calmly.

"If you're sure then...here I come!"

I shuffled forward a few steps, compensating fairly well for my shifted center of gravity, and then made a simple straight thrust toward her midsection. Whatever I expected her to do...didn't happen. Expecting to have met resistance before I reached her, I managed to halt my thrust bare centimeters before it would have connected with her chest.

"What are you doing?! You didn't even move!" I shouted as I pulled back.  
"You weren't going to hit me," she answered casually.  
"I only stopped because you didn't react."  
"No, you stopped before that so I didn't have to move. Are you really that worried you're going to hurt me?" She asked with a half-smile.  
"Well...yeah. I'd like to think I'm a fairly honorable person and I'd feel horrible if I really hurt you over something silly. Is that so weird?" I asked.

She hesitated a moment before answering, "It's...not what I'm used to. You should keep being that way. But not when you're sparring, and _never_ in a real fight. All that honor might get you a pretty headstone, but you're still going to be in the ground when your opponent realizes that being alive is more valuable than anything that could be said at your funeral."

If I was ever in a situation where I had to draw these weapons, someone would likely be dead soon after-either myself or my opponent. My near death experiences of late, even including my foolish self-imposed one, had convinced me that I didn't want to die.

"I don't think I can beat you, Zee."  
"You aren't even going to try?" she asked, looking disappointed.  
"I didn't deserve these gifts. That question you asked me before...if I was afraid to die? I am afraid-to die, to get hurt...to hurt someone else," I answered softly as I simply stared down at the beautiful implements of death.

"That just means you're alive," she said as she stepped closer before smiling, "And a good person, really. But I'm glad to see you afraid." She pressed her hand to my chest, just above my heart. "Whether you know for sure what it is or not, it means you know you have something to lose, now." She then pushed me away. "Why do you fight?"  
"You asked me to-"  
"No, dummy. You know damn well what I was really asking you," she interrupted me with a scowl.  
"I guess I don't really know," I offered in reply.

She crossed her arms with her spear against the ground. "I'm calling bullshit there too. You'd fight if you had to protect Meryl, right? And you still think you'll be able to get the better of me?"

I knew what she was getting at but I was still bothered by the thought that I might have to hurt or kill someone else to protect myself or anyone else I cared about. When I thought of Meryl desperately fighting to protect me on more than one occasion, I knew that I'd definitely do the same for her if I was able. It was hard to imagine myself hurting someone else, even if it was to protect someone I cared about. When I imagined Meryl or Zee getting hurt as a result of my own inaction, however unlikely that chance might be in the latter case, I decided that it would be foolish not to take this opportunity to better myself.

Fighting for the right to jump into Zee's pants seemed just a _bit_ less noble, but having that as a goal would still give me a chance to improve my skills, right?

I moved back into my dueling stance, having at least some part of an answer. "I hate to admit it because it really bothers me, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather keep myself and my loved ones safe than allow the alternative."  
Moving back into her relaxed open stance, Zee grinned again, "Was the real answer Meryl or are you still somehow horny enough after yesterday to be fantasizing about me?"  
Taking a few deep breaths and trying to remember the ukemi techniques I'd almost certainly be needing in a few moments, I inched forward, "Both of you at the same time, actually. Sound like fun?"  
"Not as fun as it'll be to see you try."

After a quick sidestep, I planned to take two large steps forward to extend into a deep lunge with my offhand weapon held back for defense. I only managed one of those steps before a badly deflected thrust from Zee's spear pinned one of my shoes to the ground, sending me into a fall. Before I could hit the ground, she took a sliding step forward and caught me over her knee, her spear shaft coming across my back, up under my arms, to leave me helplessly pinned over her knee with my ass in the air.

"You may as well have drawn a picture of what you were going to do and mailed it to me by courier. It's also not good to overextend like that. You think ten is fair?" She asked as I tried to catch my breath, having had the wind knocked out of me by the impact from her knee. "I'm not hearing a 'no'," she teased.

It's probably good that I'd abandoned any pretense of dignity as Azalea proceeded to literally beat my ass, counting each slap out loud as the passing townsfolk simply shook their heads. I was pretty sure that sitting comfortably wasn't going to be an option for a while.

After she'd finished doling out my punishment, she set me gently back into the wagon as Meryl approached with our horse.  
"What the fuck are you two doing?" she asked, shaking her head. "I could hear you smacking Ari's ass from across town!"  
"Lessons aren't free. She knew what she was getting into," Zee countered as she hopped back into the wagon.

Laying on my side to avoid the angry pain in my ass, I noticed that the cloth that had wrapped the two swords also contained some sort of parchment. I grabbed it and handed it to Zee since it was technically her package.

"Is this a formal surrender? You know you can keep those swords as long as you keep trying to get better with them. Oh, a letter?" She said as she unfolded the parchment that had been enclosed, her expression turning dark after only a few moments.

"Something wrong?" Meryl asked, barely giving my pained state a passing glance, as she quickly got the wagon ready to move.  
"Yeah...yeah, something is wrong. Someone in my old crew knew that I signed on to protect Joe and now claims she found someone that looked almost exactly like him in Alnor..." Zee trailed off, sighing heavily.  
"Shit!" Meryl angrily exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air.  
"Wait wait wait, is that a threat or did they actually kidnap him...her?" I asked, ignoring the throbbing pain in my ass to sit up straight.

"Yeah. It says we can have her if we come and get her. This is a trap of some kind-they know you're already with me." Zee lamented as she let the letter fall from her grasp.  
"We were going that way anyway, right? To find that witch you mentioned," I offered, concerned over a thousand different things related to that "other" me.

Meryl hopped up into the driver's seat with a look of determination. "That bounty is legally binding in Alnor. That person fits the description, has the same name, and has been seen doing business with any number of people in the city that could vouch for their identity. If your friends wanted to get the bounty, they could have already gotten it and I'm betting they already know that. Any idea what they really want?"

"Probably to get me to come back. They want to rejoin the fight against Charisse and I won't go with them. Doesn't matter now. I signed a contract," Azalea seemed to mumble, nodding as if to reassure herself of the proper state of things.

"Are you going to fight them?" I asked, trying to massage my own ass in an attempt to curb some of the pain.  
"You know the contract. My only job is to protect you...so not unless you're in danger," Azalea answered plainly.

"One of these days you're going to have to tell me what's up with you, Zee. Someone as skilled as you doesn't just give up fighting unless something really big happened," I offered softly.  
Azalea finally lit her kiseru and took a long pull, looking to my pained fidgeting apologetically, "It means something that you care, Ari. Can we leave it at that for now? You'll probably hear the whole sad tale soon enough. I just don't want to be the one that tells it."

She didn't seem put off by my statement even though she'd basically just admitted that something big _had_ , in fact, gone down. Was she expecting her old comrades to tell me? I hoped that this encounter wouldn't be painful for Zee, but I needed to get the hell out of this body before something _really_ went wrong and we only had one good option.

As we set off towards the west at Azalea's direction, it started to rain. The overcast sky unleashed the first tentative drops that grew and multiplied until the rain became a near-deluge of frigid, lancing insult to my many injuries, both physical and emotional.

Wonderful.


	17. Chapter 17 - Further Down the Spiral

_Author's note: Due to a grievous overestimation of my copy-paste skills, Chapter 15 was missing a large chunk when I initially posted it. I marked off the extra section with a line of asterisks and it IS somewhat important to the continuing story. Sorry for the confusion._

Chapter 17 - Further Down the Spiral

With the rain pelting me like a shower of daggers and moods in the wagon ranging from my gentle self-doubt to Zee's painfully dysphoric trip down memory lane, I felt the cloying tension nearly choking me. Meryl seemed to be doing the best among us, but even she seemed changed since before we'd even left the mine.

Saying that the day's trip was miserable would have been a gross understatement. None of us wanted to talk, lost as we were in our own bullshit, and I spent the day shivering while I cursed the fact that this female body seemed more sensitive to the chilling rain.

As night fell, Meryl led us off the road and threw a mostly waterproof leather tarp under the wagon so we could sleep out of the rain.

"I could have sworn you had a cloak the last time I saw you," I ventured, trying to pull Zee out of her funk as she reluctantly slid under the wagon with us.  
Azalea shrugged and moved a bit closer, her body radiating a pleasant heat. "Oh, I gave it to Delilah. She was wandering around completely naked and I didn't think I'd really need it."

Great...Delilah was one of the problems about which I'd been hoping to forget for at least a while. A growing part of me wanted to convince Meryl to turn the wagon around back towards Yuanxi so we could simply wait for the lich to catch up to us. Seeing those violet eyes bearing the weight of her realization at seeing me almost had me convinced that the lich would not harm me if she caught me again or that we could work something out.

"...Plus she might be able to break this enchantment," I mumbled, my voice picking up where my thoughts had left off.  
"I can turn us around tomorrow if you want," Meryl snapped bitterly over her shoulder at me, keeping her distance such that she couldn't have been completely out of the rain.  
"I'm sorry, Meryl. I didn't mean-"  
"I get it, okay! I'm not as pretty as she is, she has a perfect fucking body, and she'll listen to every one of your commands like a flawless enchanted doll," the fox girl continued, the rain streaming across her features.

Where was this coming from?

"What are you even talking about?" I began, "I was so wrecked after what Cecily did to me that I can't even remember much of what she looked like beyond her eyes. I've never seen a mamono that wasn't beautiful, anyway. She just looked upset. Am I not allowed to care about how other people feel?"  
"You-That isn't the point! Even with your memory supposedly gone, you looked like you wanted to fall into her arms the moment you saw her. I can handle seeing lust in your eyes, even for someone that isn't me, but that wasn't lust!" Meryl continued, tears escaping to mingle with the rain, the weather and the darkness no longer masking a very obvious sadness.

She seemed to want to fight, but I was more confused than anything. I tried to keep myself calm in the face of Meryl's anger.

"Then I don't know what it was but it isn't a big deal, okay?" I answered, not at all sure what to say.

As Meryl continued, her voice became even more shaky as the dam broke loose completely, her eyes already swollen and red as hopelessness continued to overwhelm her. "No...it's not okay. _I'm_ not okay! Every single day it gets worse and I don't know what to do. I'm losing you before I've even been able to say I've had you, I can't stop thinking about what I did to that fucking devil, and I just found out that this horse and wagon are the only things I still own. I see you hurting and confused and I can't help...and that just makes it all worse."

Azalea asserted her almost motherly presence, dispelling the feeling of dread a bit. "Meryl...whatever you did with that devil saved both of you. Nothing I say is going to make you feel better about it, but you should at least wait until you've had some actual rest before worrying yourself about the rest, okay?"

I reached out to pull Meryl towards me, unintentionally cringing when I felt the sopping wet fur of her tail brush against me. "I'll probably just fuck things up if I try to say the right thing so I'll say what's on my mind. You haven't lost me, and every day that becomes less likely. I...can't feel bad about what happened to Cecily-she made the hours I spent in her clutches feel like agonizing days until you saved me."

Meryl stopped struggling and let me pull her close against me, finally out of the rain as I finished speaking. "And even if we had nothing more than the clothes on our backs...or less, we'd make it. I might just have some...let's say special human 'black magic' that could make us piles of gold."

At that, the shivering fox finally stopped shaking and turned over to face me, a smile having dared to crack the imperious frown that had held her visage. "We'll see. But thanks...both of you."

Another day under the unrelenting rain looked as though it might pass the same as the one before. The lovely weather had destroyed whatever emotional progress any of us had made the previous night. Expecting that we'd be spending another night on the ground, now with even less dry bedding, Azalea finally spoke up.

"Stop here," she suddenly demanded after what seemed an eternity of silence.

Startled at the command, Meryl pulled on the reins, slowing the wagon.

"There," Zee said as she pointed a short distance ahead of us, "take us into the stables. This is an inn and its where we're stopping."  
"It's too early! We can't stop yet," Meryl protested, "we already lost too much time in-"  
"I'm not asking, Meryl. You don't know where to go without me anyway," Zee asserted as she hopped down and offered me a hand, "We're staying here."

I waved off the salamander's proffered hand and moved up next to Meryl, earning a slight smile from the scaled woman. Azalea was certainly good at reading people.

After I helped Meryl get the horse and wagon secured, I pulled her close to me as we made our way into the large inn. There were enough people milling about inside that I was worried that we'd even be able to get a room, let alone a bath.

"We'll stay just until we've warmed up and you get some rest, okay?" I soothingly begged of the bleary-eyed vixen.  
"You promise?" Meryl asked as she met my gaze, her emerald eyes demanding an earnest answer.  
"I promise. Now...what do you want to eat?" I pried, changing the subject.  
Scarce louder than the din of the rain and people inside the inn, she hid her face in my damp sleeve as she mumbled, "Fried tofu…"

Her own confusion and indecision more pressing to me than my own, I was able to forget my worries while I thought on how to assuage Meryl's. It was the least I could offer to the woman that had saved my life three times and counting, and damn but she was cute when she was vulnerable.

The three of us shared a quick meal during which I got most of my nourishment from seeing Meryl enjoying her fried tofu far more than I would have ever expected. It wasn't expensive, but she savored every bite as though it had been prepared by a five-star chef.

The mood definitely seemed much better once we'd started eating. Using the opportunity to likely dive headfirst onto a conversational landmine, however, I decided to ask about what I _thought_ was the most benign of the grievances Meryl had mentioned.

"Okay, so what was that about the horse and wagon being the only things you own?"

She scowled first and then looked as though she would start crying again before taking a large sniffling breath and angrily responding, "My sister found a way to have my accounts frozen. I could fix it...but I'd have to go to Alnor to do it. I'd be proud of her if I wasn't so fucking pissed."  
Trying to be reassuring, I patted her hand as I replied, "Shouldn't what you have in the wagon be enough to keep you on your feet once you sell it?"  
She shook her head. "Not outside Charisse, and I'm not quite ready to die to make a few hundred gold. Everything has turned to utter shit."  
Azalea finished her bowl of soup and set the bowl on the table, her eyes moving to bore into the shaken fox. "So then why are you even out on the road?"

Meryl simply closed her eyes. "I...couldn't stay in Alnor. My family is there and I didn't want to have to keep making excuses for why I couldn't make it the 200 meters to visit. At first I was happy for my sister when she got everything she ever wanted, then I got jealous, and then I...got depressed. I'm supposed to be the older sister and she's gotten so far past me that I can't even see her anymore. I wanted to find my own mate out here on the road and then you…" she trailed off as she glanced at me, looking quickly away as she tried to smother more tears.

Zee extended her arms skyward with interlaced fingers as she stretched, afterwards looking back to Meryl. "First of all, what's your sister's name?"  
"It's Karisa."  
"Forgetting this whole Joe situation for a minute-what does Karisa have that you don't?" Zee asked.  
"She got the blessing of Amarante...she's already got two beautiful children-twins," Meryl began, her dark mood seeming to vanish completely as she continued, "I really wish you could see them! Cutest pair of girls I've ever seen."  
"So what's stopping you from getting this blessing?" Zee asked, smiling already.  
"Lord knows how many bureaucratic hoops and her possible wrath once she basically sees the same guy show up twice," Meryl nearly giggled in response.

"Amarante…" I mumbled, the name thundering within my skull like a drum.

At once I remembered an impossible scene, standing in the presence of a mamono that referred to herself as Amarante. It was like a dream-no, it was a dream. That dream, however, was more colorful and alive than the most lucid of realities. I saw myself standing before her with another being that I couldn't see. As I focused on the Lord's all-knowing eyes, I felt a familiar piercing headache begin. As the scene began to deconstruct around me, the memory of the Lord placing a kiss upon my cheek resurfaced and the pain quickly vanished.

"I remember her!" I shouted, earning baleful looks from every corner of the room. "I met her and she kissed me...she gave me something. I don't remember why I was there exactly or who I was with, but I definitely remember meeting her."  
"What was she like?" Azalea asked before Meryl could slip a word in edgewise.  
"She seemed mostly normal up until she unleashed the godlike powers and all. The moment I saw her, I remember thinking that I'd been scheduled for some surprise sex. Don't tell...uh...whoever else was there with me that I totally wouldn't have minded," I rattled off, blushing as I finished.  
"You have got to be the filthiest slut I've ever met," Meryl scolded, shaking her head in disbelief.  
"Huh...I wonder why I remember her and nothing else," I mused aloud.  
Zee chimed in, "Maybe that magic just hid your memories instead of taking them. Or the lord's presence in your memory was just too powerful to erase."

Even without knowing anything of the actual memories I'd lost or my own perceptions of them, things were starting to come into focus. The picture coming into view was one of myself, happily married, with...twin girls.

Shredding my initial self doubts like cobwebs caught in a gale, I realized that I was never going to turn into anyone else but who I am. Large, soft breasts notwithstanding, this strange land wouldn't have changed me, and that fact was becoming more and more evident in the people around me. The lich had told me exactly what she must have known would cause me to doubt my choice to flee. If I'd been put in a position to sacrifice myself to help save that family, I'd have been glad to do it.

With my renewed desire to live, however, was a great deal of desire to have everything I wanted...and damn the costs. It was becoming a lot more obvious that Meryl cared more about me than she was saying, but I wasn't about to leave a broken home in my wake to keep the two of us smiling.

But let's be serious...I'd found myself in a world full to bursting with _magic_! Somewhere on this island _had_ to be an answer to this problem. I had one thought of a potential solution that I _really_ didn't want to consider despite the extreme likelihood that it would work. Could you really even still call it masturbation if you're in two different bodies?

"We need to rescue the other me, then. And then we're going to Alnor to deal with your sister," I proclaimed, certain enough that this was the best option.  
"Yeah, fantastic. What about the ancient lich that needs you dead to save that 'other' you, hmm?" Meryl wasn't disagreeing with me despite her sincere distaste for that plan.  
I brushed off her doubts and continued, "I haven't gotten that far yet...but there has to be a way for everyone to get what they want. You know Delilah better than I, but I really didn't feel like she would kill me if there was an alternative, would she? Also...if my clone is a mamono, then couldn't she...um...absorb some of that essence from me through...you know...some kind of contact?"

"Oh this is _just_ what I wanted to hear. The thought of that big futa prick get you all riled up? I'd tell you to go fuck yourself but apparently that's EXACTLY what you want to do. How is it possible that I've met demons that think about sex less than you?" Meryl shot back, rolling her eyes.

I leaned toward toward Meryl and shook my head. "First of all, no. _She's_ the one that fucked up-more than me, anyway-and will be spending the rest of her nearly eternal life as a monster. This would be after I'm back to normal. If I was in her shoes, sure, I'd be upset about abandoning a life free from the cocks of other dudes, but you can be damn sure sure I'd be on my knees in a heartbeat if the alternative was leaving wives and children alone and grieving."  
"That doesn't answer the lich question, Ari!" Meryl nearly shouted, her nerves getting the best of her.  
"Well...if we get to demon Joe and you maybe...explain the situation, who's to complain if you omit a few details?" I offered, a bit more deviously than I had intended.

Looking like she was ready with a rage-filled answer, Meryl deflated at my statement, a smile taking root upon her lips. "That's quite a bit more...inspired than I expected. I still see two problems...maybe only one if you're thinking like a mamono. First, assuming that witch can even dispel the enchantment upon you, she'd have to agree to do it...or you'll end up riding futa cock to share that energy of yours. _If_ she helps us, then you'd have the hilariously singular honor of deflowering your sleeping clone against her will. So...blood either way, I guess...and then we have to hope that wakes her up."

It was just sex, right? I'd probably need to hear a _really_ good explanation if I awoke to find myself in that position. Did we have any other choice?

Zee remained silent as Meryl and I went over the details of the plan, her thoughts far from our discussion. She finally perked up and cut in to the conversation. "I really hope this trip is worth it, you guys, because it's going to be a lot more dangerous from here out. We're about a day from the border to Charisse and our destination is just south of that, in the rocky hills at the edge of the desert. Also, they've got a natural hot spring here, so you should both go soak and then get some rest. I see someone I need to deal with and I don't want either of you around."

That was a lot more direct than I was expecting from Azalea. Hoping to follow her eyes to find out who she was speaking of in this room full of mamono, I found Zee's eyes fixed, unmoving, upon me.

"Okay...just try not to make too much of a mess or get us thrown out of here," I answered reluctantly, worried about what she might do.  
"I'll be fine. Don't worry," she assured with a weak smile as she shooed the two of us off to find this alleged hot spring.

Meryl seemed convinced that Azalea could take care of herself, but something in the salamander's manner worried me.

I was distracted from my concerns, momentarily, when I saw the bubbling water before me. The pool was set up like a traditional Japanese hot spring but with a retractable bamboo divider that appeared to only see use if there were men in the bath. The divider wasn't currently seeing use which meant that I was likely the only human here amidst the many mamono of varying species.

Despite the inviting scene before me of the hot spring filled with nearly a half-dozen absolutely gorgeous women, the fiery Meryl among them, something didn't feel right.

"I'm going to go check on Zee," I told Meryl as I turned to head back into the inn proper.  
She simply sighed and nodded. "Come get me if you need me."

Heading back into in the large common room, I was immediately glad of my decision, if not for what I was actually seeing.

"You think your service to Charisse ended just because your piss-poor legion disbanded? Death is more than you deserters deserve, but if you return with me we can make sure you die where you should-fighting the usurper's forces," a very large, horned, green-skinned woman demanded, prodding Zee with a large metal baton.  
"Charisse can come get me herself, then. And our 'piss-poor' legion sacked Uruk in two days after you and the rest of that murdering cunt's forces failed to even scratch the walls," Zee answered casually, not even getting up from her chair.

I, along with every person in the room, knew what was about to happen. The outcome, however was not at all what I'd expected...or hoped to see.

"Is that right?" the ogre hissed as she turned away a moment only to bring her heavy steel baton down across Azalea's shoulders.

Zee's skin raised in a painful-looking welt almost immediately, a few flecks of blood even coming free in the places where the strike had broken her dark skin.

Azalea reacted...but not at all in the way I expected. Remaining in her seat, the large salamander simply weathered the blow and looked up at the ogre. "Yeah, that's right. Now leave before you embarass yourself."

The bluff certainly should have worked and maybe it really would have if another voice in the room hadn't shouted, the intended recipient unclear, "You going to just take that? Take her down!"

With that, I bore witness to the most brutal one-sided beating I'd ever had the misfortune to see. Strike after cruel strike came down, blood leaping forth to proclaim the intensity of each.

Azalea didn't even attempt to defend herself. Her eyes were far away again, the savage beating not even registering, before they closed in sadness several moments later. I made to rush forward in an attempt to put a stop to this however I could.

I was stuck on something, however, and as I frantically turned to see what it was, I saw the goblin that had been with Azalea the first time I'd seen her. She had a grip on me and didn't look like she would release me. About to scream in protest, I heard a terrible crack followed by Zee's first shout of pain as the baton appeared to have broken the salamander's right hand followed by another swing to the back of her skull that sent my bodyguard sprawling onto the floor, unconscious.

My weapons in the most useful place they could be-in the stables with the wagon-I doubted that I would have been able to do much anyway. But I couldn't just stand here and let this happen.

The goblin, Fizzli, scowled when she saw Zee hit the floor and nodded. Before the next swing from the self-satisfied ogre could descend, a large cloaked form stumbled past me. A large blue arm shot out to a chair to steady the obviously drunken mamono but came up short and sent the chair sliding across the floor where it miraculously caught the ogre behind the knee, knocking her off balance and stopping the attack completely.

"Watch where you're going or you're next," the enraged ogre spat, brandishing her baton in the cloaked figure's direction.  
"Sho *hic* shorry! Let me jusht get that chair out of your *hic* way." the voice slurred from beneath the concealing cloak.

Stumbling forward, the drunk appeared to trip over one of Azalea's legs, rolling onto the ground a moment later. As she stumbled to try and get up, she accidentally shoulder-checked the ogre, knocking her back and sending the green-skinned mamono's leg's out from under her. This sent the ogre into a forward fall, her teeth connecting with the back of the chair before hitting the ground with a howl of pain.

"That's it!" the ogre howled as she leapt to her feet, spitting blood and a few pieces of broken teeth to the ground.  
"What'sh *hic* what, now?" the cloaked figure asked as she removed her hood, revealing a familiar set of blue horns. This was the blue oni that had been driving the wagon when I'd first been picked up, Liuli.

If she was in Azalea's crew then that had to mean…something, right? I had to hope because this goblin had no intention of letting me go and I couldn't even budge her grip.

The blue oni looked about as drunk as I'd ever seen anyone in my life, swaying back and forth to such a degree that it looked like she was having some serious difficulty even staying upright.

"You're *hic* angry? Ish it because my horns are *hic* bigger? Shize isn't everything, y'know?" the oni remarked, as she pointed to her head with a smile.

The green-skinned ogre didn't seem interested in talking and wiped the blood from her mouth as she took a step toward the drunken oni as the other patrons now watched with more curiosity than dread.

As the ogre took a horizontal swing at the oni, Liuli, the latter chose that moment to bend over and pick up a jug of foul-smelling sake that she'd apparently dropped, the swing missing completely. As the ogre prepared to step back and bring her weapon down diagonally, Liuli hopped up from the ground, her forehead between her horns catching the ogre in the chin.

The ogre stumbled back, her eyes going bloodshot in fury as she looked at the swaying Liuli while the blue oni rubbed her head a moment and then raised her arms, one hand holding the clay jug of alcohol, the other looking like it was holding an invisible bottle of wine.

A few whispers from around the room suggested that I wasn't the only person that had the inkling that the oni was more than simply drunk. The ogre seemed to be one of the only people that hadn't caught on, but it became pretty clear in the next few moments.

Liuli dropped into a deep twisting stance and began guzzling from the jug as the ogre advanced, spitting the liquid in the ogre's face from below and then uncoiling into a massive straight punch, sending the ogre reeling. The green enemy didn't get far as Liuli's cloak was quickly hooked on the flailing ogre's horns followed by a stomp kick, carried by the weight of the oni's entire body, to the ogre's pelvis. The ogre was thrown completely horizontal by the kick and was sent several meters across the room, landing flat on her chest with the cloak still covering her face.

"You better stay down, big girl, or the innkeeper is going to have to scrape your icky face off the walls!" the goblin beside me shouted as she dragged me forward, brandishing the impossibly massive metal club in her free hand.

Seeing that she now had two opponents, the ogre growled and reluctantly limped her way from the inn, the fact that she could even walk a testament to her supernatural toughness.

"Hey! Who'sh *hic* that? You shaid I'd get shexy timesh with a man!" Liuli asked, her breath smelling more like jet fuel than alcohol.  
"Maybe when we get back. We'll have to see if Mira can fix these boobies into not boobies," the goblin answered.

I slipped from the goblin's grasp and dropped to the ground next to Zee, the salamander wavering in and out of consciousness.

"Come on, you can see her when she comes to get you," the goblin sharply intoned, placing a note and a small vial in Zee's hand, hesitating a moment before releasing her contact.  
"Mira better fix him," the blue oni answered out of nowhere as she tossed me over her shoulder and carried me from the inn, the patrons now averting their eyes from my plight.

There was nothing I could say after what I had just seen. Everything about the way Azalea fought, from her deliberate movements to her seeming supernatural awareness of the entire battle had been completely worthless. She let herself be beaten, even though it could have likely killed her in this case.

I didn't want to scream for Meryl and put her in danger, despite how worried I knew she'd be. These girls wanted Zee, and Fizzli's reaction to the ogre's actions told me they didn't want to hurt the salamander. If that meant I was going to be a captive, then so be it. At least one of them seemed to think that someone could "fix" me as well, and this might also put me in contact with the "me" demon for whom we were searching.

New questions remained, however. What could have happened to Zee that was so horrible that she would let that happen to herself? Was there something I could do to help? Would she even want me to?


	18. Chapter 18 - What Was Lost

Chapter 18 - What Was Lost

Being carried by a drunken oni as some strange sort of hostage was so far removed from my expectations that it hadn't even made my mental list of unlikely possibilities. Given that riding on a unicorn over a rainbow or being hurled to my destination by a catapult _had_ made the list, I was flabbergasted, to say the least.

It also wasn't what I would have called a smooth ride.

"Liuli, right? How could you leave Azalea like that?" I asked, frustrated at knowing I had no chance of escape from this situation.  
Still obviously drunk but now able to keep her slurring under control, the large woman answered, "You're aren't worried about yourself?"  
"Should I be?" I offered in reply.

The goblin that had apparently been following us unseen from my position piped up, "We're all taking a turn once our witch gets your doodle back, so you should be!"  
"It's only sex and your witch would have to fix me first. I'm more worried about my bodyguard," I assured the doubting goblin, "What? It's not like you're going to kill me."  
"You don't know that! Not yet!" the goblin chirped back at me.  
"Sure I do, and I can tell you three reasons," I began, continuing without waiting for a response, "Either Zee will come get me, you'll decide you want a man around, or the lich chasing me would probably kill you and then raise you from the dead just to kill you again."

"Lich? What lich?" the goblin asked as she hopped up and down alongside me, draped as I was over the oni's back.  
"She thinks I stole her demonic husband's essence. Didn't you guys kidnap an alp? Her," I pointed out.  
The goblin stopped bouncing and just looked up at me. "You think you're smart? Our witch is a super grandmaster. You can't have 'zalea!"  
"I wouldn't have left her bleeding on the floor, so forgive me if I'd let her make her own decisions before relying on either of you," I jabbed, seeking a reaction.

At that, the oni stopped running and threw me into a large puddle on the ground. The two of them glared down at me before Liuli spoke, "You're a fool. Did it look like she can make the right decisions on her own? We would have stepped in sooner but we hoped she would fight back or at least protect herself."

"I'm not talking about letting her get hurt. Why did you leave her? Why did you take me to get to her?" I demanded in an accusatory tone.  
"We don't know what else to do!" Liuli screamed, stumbling slightly as she did so.

Fizzli reached down and pulled me from the puddle, frowning. "Her tail is colder every day since Uruk. You aren't helping her."  
"What happened in Uruk?" I asked. "Whatever you think about me...I want to help her."

Even in the darkening of the already dreary evening, I could feel the oni's far less inebriated eyes scanning me for some hint of malice or treachery.

"If you move on your own, I'll tell you. You'd better keep up," Liuli said as she pointed forward.

I had no idea where I was and little if any chance of escape. More than that, my meddling nature demanded that I hear what happened. People aren't toys that can be mended once broken, but if I could find a true will to live while swilling an endless cocktail of misery, Azalea could find a way to heal whatever had wounded her so deeply. That was what I truly believed.

I began to jog through the miserable rain, glad for the warmth provided by the physical activity.

The oni looked down at me, appraising me again for a moment...and began.

-  
-Through Azalea's Eyes  
-Some time ago-

"Our lines of communication have gone to shit, who are we even fighting?" I asked Jess, our company scout.  
"Our Isis contact claims Uruk is one of the last cities still loyal to Charisse. Offers of surrender were refused, the location is too remote to get effective siege weapons in place, and even after the initial assault managed to bring down the gates, the captain of the defenders held off the attack single-handedly for two days."

"Who was handling the assault?" I asked, assuming it must have been conscripts or volunteers to be beaten back so easily.  
"Broken Tooth and Shel's Reavers along with a handful of Isis's regulars," Jess informed, her hesitant tone suggesting she was as doubtful as I about the information.

I adjusted my armor as I thought out loud on the possibilities. "Charisse shouldn't have anyone left that could handle a force like that alone. Shit, there shouldn't even be anyone left _alive_ in the desert with that kind of skill, outside the Legion."  
Jess fluttered her wings nervously. "Command thought it had to be mercenary, but the Bladetails claim it isn't theirs and it isn't any of the surviving freelancers that were in the Grand Blood Tournament. We haven't been able to get any messages from command in weeks, though, so for all we know it's Kaori herself."

Just the thought of matching blades with the missing Lord of the Corpse Throne provoked an exhilarated rush. It would almost be worth the ensuing cremation or closed-casket service they'd have for me if I crossed swords with the lord of slaughter.

Looking over my company within the confines of our transport, I smiled as I took a moment to truly appreciate that I had never worked with a more finely tuned unit in my entire life. Joining me at the front of any engagement were Shaila and Keres, the former being a wurm with far more strength than sense and the latter a powerful chimaera, her strength far from matching the wurm but with far greater cunning and impressive magical talents to make up the difference.

Once the three of us shattered the enemy's front lines, Fizzli and Liuli would charge into the gap and start collapsing entire formations. Having raised and trained both of them nearly from their infancy, I trusted their capabilities along with their uncanny ability to unleash chaos and panic in even the most disciplined enemies.

Jess, a harpy I also helped raise and train, and Kimiya, a manticore, handled ranged support. The harpy certainly had the edge in range and effectiveness against soft targets while Kimiya used her poisoned spines to great effect upon hardened enemies that might have been difficult to handle any other way.

Finishing out my team proper was Sara, our field medic and a unicorn that had refined her healing talents to a degree beyond masterful. She was also also the only married member of the team and the butt of nearly all of our good-natured ribbing. Against my better judgement, and to the groans of the many in the Ashtails that had apparently been running a secret pool to bet on when I'd finally give up my flower (bastards), I'd actually let her convince me to allow her treat me to a trip to a brothel if, and only if, we won this war for Isis.

"Captain, I got something amazing from our alchemist that should help," Keres suggested with no small amount of excitement as she produced a large bottle of dark, blood-like liquid.  
"We shouldn't need mermaid blood if we all do our jobs and keep Sara safe," I said, waving off her offer.  
"No, no," she countered, "This is something far better than that. It's distilled from some special spider blood and concentrated ignis essence. I got assurances that after drinking this, an enemy wouldn't even be able to hurt you and you'd be able to stay completely lucid even while under the effects. Plus...it's about to go bad and I don't want to have wasted all that gold."

I wasn't sure we needed something like that, but Keres had always had a unique approach to conflicts. Against an unknown enemy of potentially prodigious skill, could I afford to risk _not_ taking every potential edge available?

"Fine, pass it around. But no other drinking before battle!" I agreed, taking a large slug from the bottle myself.  
"But-!" I heard Liuli almost pitifully begin in protest.  
"Except you, Blueberry," I finished with a smile as I felt a wave of heat run over me.

"Hey! Keep that thing at a light bonfire, captain. Not a lot of room to breathe in here and I don't want to have to treat any burns before we actually break into the city," Sara scolded.  
"Just got a bit carried away," I offered in apology, swinging my tail a bit and focusing back on the task ahead of us as my flames died down.

Getting the signal from Drayna that we were nearing our destination, I addressed the entire seven-person group, "So we don't know who or what we're facing, just that they managed to stop two very skilled mercenary companies. We can't afford to let up this time. Anyone that's loyal to Charisse is fine with being her sacrifice, and if they're still loyal now then that's exactly what they'll be. As soon as we break into the city, kill anything that isn't a man. If you get in over your head, give your signal and fall back to the breach point and regroup. This city gives us a solid supply line to get goods from the sea and denies that to our enemy. We're breaking Charisse's back here today, whatever the cost. Understood?!"

"Yes captain!" the company shouted in unison.  
"Fire and Glory!" we shouted as I gave the signal to our transport to begin the assault.

I began to pace in the small space as I took deepening breaths, my entire being focusing and drawing down to a single point. Rage, fury, and blood would be the only things before me, my broken enemies the only things behind. Battle was no place for thought, only instinct. With each breath I drew in the cause for which we fought, the sorrows of this war, and the hatred of my enemy. Within the furnace of my heart, I forged those toxins into rage and fury-into a trained berserker trance.

I continued to pace, giving nearly all of myself to the building fury of the coming battle while the rest of my unit braced for the impact as our sandworm companion, Drayna, broke through the ancient flagstones of an ancient temple near the center of the city. Whatever the defenders were expecting, it wasn't an assault from below. We leapt from Drayna's open maw and fanned out, cutting down the light resistance within the temple.

Most of the defenders fled from us in horror as we cut through them like over-ripe wheat. Throughout the city, the unfamiliar screams became an almost musical backdrop beneath the pounding in my ears that became my battle rhythm, all else given over whole to raw instinct.

For hours we carried out what could only have been described as a purge across the city. The tonic I'd consumed had carried my battle frenzy far beyond that to which I was accustomed, but I couldn't deny that the loss of control was somehow more...freeing, almost euphoric.

It wasn't until I encountered the first sign of resistance that my blood haze let me remember that there was supposed to be a skilled defender among the enemies. I didn't see a face and barely registered that she was even armed as I drove toward her with my assault.

I dove forward, my opponent's twin pieces of metal scoring my flesh as I brought my falchion down in a fierce swing, throwing my spear a moment later in the only place to she could have safely leapt to dodge. My swing was instead lightly deflected as my spear flew from my grasp, far wide of where my opponent was still standing.

Before I could bring my blade up into a followup swing, I took several more slashes across my arms and legs as my opponent became a whirlwind of steel. I felt none of the strikes any more than I might have felt a stiff breeze, even as the muscles in my left leg stopped responding.

I felt...shaking and now familiar screams. There was no way that I could have been convinced before this battle that there was any force, save perhaps the Bladetail Legion after which we had modeled ourselves, that could match us evenly. Perhaps the faceless woman before me truly was Kaori herself, I wondered, as the screams grew louder and the arms of my enemy's loyal servants fell upon me in an attempt to keep me restrained.

I tried to rake at my opponent with the claws on my free hand, unable to muster enough leverage to get my weapon free from the stone beneath me. Two thrusts and a slash from her in the following second put my left arm beyond use.

With only one good leg, one good arm, and nearly a dozen restraining arms upon me, I howled in my still-growing rage until nothing remained but the enemy before me. I made a great swipe of my tail to throw off some of the hands upon me before leaping at my opponent, my blood spilling freely onto the stones beneath me in payment for my action as I grasped her face in my good arm as I fell to the ground upon her.

I then felt strikes upon me, from my grappled enemy and upon my unprotected back from her countless unseen allies. Bellowing as I leaned hard upon all of the strength within me, I drew her head from the ground before slamming it back against the stone. After the first crushing impact, I felt her resistance falter even while her allies' assault upon me grew more intense, my bones and scales not able to withstand the assault as the first true bites of pain shook my blood focus.

Again I brought my enemy's skull down against the stone, the fight then leaving her completely. I then felt a sharp impact at the base of my skull followed by at least a half-dozen more. I would not die without stopping the greatest threat to my allies, I reasoned, as I gave the rest of my strength to nearly completely crush the skull of my enemy with two more savage slams of her head against the brutally unforgiving stone before I was finally completely overcome.

I should have died, and upon awakening I wasn't convinced that death wouldn't have been preferable.

Barely heard whispers were the first indication that I had survived; the second was tears. Had we won? How many had we lost?

I tried to get up and found myself completely bound, half in splints and slings for my wounds and the rest in actual physical restraints. Even my simple attempt to move, however, was a lesson in agony more enlightening than any I'd ever had and I was unable to hold back a near shriek of pain from the very depths of my center.

"Oh, captain...please don't try to move," I heard Sara request, her voice uneven and shaking.  
"What...happened? Did we...take the city?" I asked, her tone making it clear that I should brace myself for the answers that would follow.  
"What do you remember, captain?" she asked, the sounds of nearby whispers growing louder.

I began to relate what I remembered, concerned over this strange treatment. "We broke into the city with Drayna, fanned out, and cut down the defenders...just as planned. I ran into whoever was heading their defense and...then I heard screams. I fought her while her allies tried to stop me...I needed to make sure I took her down so that none of you would be forced to fight her. Did...something happen? Give me a full report...please."

Sara straightened up a bit before starting her report. "Captain...the information we got was either falsified, outdated, or simply wrong. Uruk had been crushed by Isis's forces weeks ago. It then became the Legion's refuge for non-combatants after we lost Dargaz. Whatever Keres gave you appeared to have driven the entire unit nearly insane. I was able to counteract the effect on everyone but you and Shaila. We...have some losses you should-"  
"Who...who did I fight?" I asked, not wanting to know but knowing that I had to.  
She started at my question and began slowly, "There were several casualties along with-"  
"Who was it?! Ashley? Michaela?" I demanded, naming the two most prolific twin blade wielders that came to mind.  
"It was Dahlia, captain," she confessed, looking away almost immediately.

That shouldn't been possible. My sister was supposed to be with the forces holding the capital, she couldn't have been here. There must have been a mistake.

"No, my sister is with the forces holding the Lost Ruins," I challenged.  
"We no longer have forces holding the capital. Dargaz was...lost to Charisse, and everyone the scouts could reach was recalled to our new haven in Uruk," Sara uttered in answer, turning to look directly at me, the truth laid bare in her eyes.  
"Dahlia...is she?" I sputtered, fearing the worst.

Even being used to delivering grim news, Sara struggled greatly in her attempt to continue. "I don't really know how to say this, captain. She is alive, but I don't believe that she will ever wake from the sleep that grips her. The...damage to her skull was simply too extensive for me to heal."

"And the non-combatants…?" I inquired pleadingly, desperate to hear something other than what I already expected.  
"You must rest, captain. The rest should wait," Sara nearly cried, no longer able to even look at me.

There was more pain in the words that weren't being said than in any of the words that Sara uttered. Our refuge was where our mates, our young, and our wounded were supposed to be protected. I didn't scout Uruk properly before the assault, or double check our sources, or refuse when Keres offered that cursed tonic.

"Keres. Where is Keres?" I begged of Sara.  
"Keres is a traitor to what was once the Legion. She vanished with...my husband and another man in the confusion. She must have known what that elixir would do to you," Sara declared, unable to hide a crushing sadness.  
"What was once…?" I mumbled in disbelief.  
Sara began to make her way from the room. "Our banners have been consigned to the flame along with those we've lost. We have only two human women and one man still with us. The Legion could still fight, but our future has been taken from us. I...must go," she finished as she could no longer restrain her grief, galloping from the room with her face covered.

Everything that I was and in which I believed was gone or broken. Days passed in numb silence before the tears came, and a week more before they stopped. Everything that happened to Uruk-to the Legion-had been because of the choices I had made. Even if Keres was a traitor, if I had simply ignored her suggestion as I should have, I wouldn't have lost myself so completely to the blood frenzy that I couldn't even recognize my own sister.

Dahlia...was the picture of what I always wanted to be. Intelligent, beautiful, and the greatest warrior I'd ever seen hold a weapon. She wrote poetry in iron and made even the desert sun seem a bit dimmer in her presence. Matching my sister had been my goal since the first time I'd even touched a weapon, and now that goal was shattered.

Laying a sorrow upon me so heavy that not even my screams could escape, I learned that her husband and my two young nieces had been among those killed by my tainted frenzy. Even after hundreds of years of conflict, knowing that each engagement could see friends and family stolen by the embrace of death, the thought that it was my own bloody hands that had destroyed everything I held dear...was more than I could bear.

If I could destroy so much with one foolish decision, how could I ever be certain of any choice to raise my sword again? I had been born, bred, and raised as a warrior with no other talents, skills, or even desires for anything more than that life. I decided in that moment that I would never make the choice to fight again.

Killing myself would be the only option if I had no purpose. So I let myself stay true, at least, to the one purpose for which I was suited. If another asked it of me-if another would pay me, I would be their blade. A sword cannot choose where its wielder brings it to bear. It cannot harm another person without the wielder directing it. One cannot blame a sword for its actions as it can only do as its wielder commands.

All other futures, I had destroyed. I would be nothing more than a weapon.

If I never made the choice to fight, I could never again make the wrong choice.

-  
-Back in the present-

"After that, Jess, Fizzli, and I left Charisse and came north to find simple mercenary work. It wasn't long after that we ran into you," Liuli said, now silent.

I stopped in my tracks, dumbfounded. What could even be said in such a horrible situation? What did these girls think they were going to do to help Zee? A pep talk? Heartfelt platitudes about how everyone makes mistakes?

"Keep going," the goblin demanded, prodding me with her massive metal club.  
Picking me up, more gently than before, Liuli began carrying me again, now more like the princess that I'm sure I appeared to be. "You say you want to help, but Azalea is our mother. She might see it some other way, but she raised us and taught us how to protect ourselves-how to make our own place in this world. We don't want the weapon she claims to be...we want the woman that raised us to come back."

"I'm not important enough to her for...this to work. She might come for me, but only because I paid her," I lamented when I considered her strange contract again and what it meant.  
Liuli took a shuddering breath. "It was Mira's idea. We don't know what else to do."

I thought back on all of my encounters with Zee and, aside from her thoughts on fighting, she seemed otherwise well-adjusted and genuinely interested in seeing me beat her. Is that what it would take for her to change her state of mind?

"She told me that I could...have her if I ever bested her," I mumbled, somehow hoping that might provide some insight.  
"It's worth trying, maybe. You'd have to be a dirty cheater though...like Dahlia's husband," Fizzli said with a slightly forlorn smile.  
Liuli smiled herself at the memory. "Kellan had Dahlia so drunk that she could barely even grip the right end of her sword. Turns out he'd been drinking from a different bottle all night and was dead sober. He might have been the best human warrior I'd ever seen and he still barely managed a victory. I'd never seen Dahlia happier than when her hangover finally passed."  
Fizzli poked at me again, asking, "You don't seem like much of a fighter...and Azalea holds her liquor a lot better than her sister ever could."

I shook my head. "I'm a better fighter than she thinks...probably, but I'm not even anywhere near the same league. I'll need to do some serious training, but even then I don't think I'd ever be able to beat her in a straight up fight."  
"Then how could you win?" Fizzli asked.

It was a longshot and something that might not even have been within the realm of possibility unless I could get Delilah and Karisa off my back, but from the moment she'd fought off those guards at my execution...it felt like my challenging her was something she really wanted.

At least I had a much better reason now for trying to best Zee than to satisfy my curiosity on what the inside of a salamander feels like.

I gave a stupid grin and answered the goblin's question, "Well...obviously I'll have to cheat."


	19. Chapter 19 - The Expected Unthinkable

Chapter 19 - The Expected Unthinkable

Despite the fact that I was now a hostage or simply glorified bait, my captors were a lot nicer to me after telling me of Azalea's circumstances. It didn't look like that fact was going to stop them from jumping me the moment I was able to perform if their witch could get me back to normal, however, so I was left with mixed feelings.

At some point while I was being carried, I must have fallen asleep. This was made quite clear when I awoke to a clear pre-dawn sky just before being taken inside an old stone building. The building itself looked like an abandoned outpost of some kind with only a simple common room, a small watch tower, and a shallow basement with a pair of improvised cells.

As we entered the small stone structure, I saw a young-looking feathered girl staring directly at me as we passed through the common room. When she began preening herself, I wasn't sure if it was a compliment, an insult, or completely unrelated to anything beyond her sudden desire for some preening. She remained silent with an unreadable expression as we passed.

I was set gently upon a surprisingly comfortable makeshift bed of furs and straw within one of the two cells. Compared to the prison in which I'd waiting for my scheduled execution, this was like a palace guest room. The only things left that might have made this a better room would have been running water, a mini bar, and cheap cable porn.

"Mira isn't here yet. Are you hungry?" Liuli asked, looking down at me with a look of some newly awakened feeling toward me that was still inscrutable.  
"No, thank you. I'm just tired. I guess you can wake me up when the witch gets here and definitely wake me up if Azalea, Meryl, or the lich show up," I droned, still tired from the lack of proper sleep.

Nodding, the oni closed and barred the heavy wooden door behind her and headed back out, leaving me alone in the small cell...or so it appeared until I rolled over to find myself confronting the most difficult thing I'd ever had to see. Literally nothing I'd ever seen could have prepared me for what I was now seeing.

It was fucking… _me_.

Even knowing that I'd likely run into this...person here, it was still jarring beyond belief to see _her_ in the flesh. My resolution to refer to this demon using only feminine pronouns was also immediately challenged. It was like looking into a mirror...assuming, of course, that I hadn't consumed that enchanted water...and maybe if I had grown some rather fetching horns.

Damn it! Was I really so vain that I was okay with finding myself attractive? The answer, of course, was a resounding "yes", but that didn't put a damper on my curiosity in the slightest.

The sleeping creature before me definitely had all of the indicators that would scream out a demonic nature. After some careful observation, all above the waist (for now), the outward appearance seemed to be completely male with no indication of even tiny swells in the chest area.

As I was feeling the soft membranes of those bat-like wings, the not-me spoke, nearly peeling me out of my skin in alarm.

"Noooo, it's creepy. Nothing is going in there," the demon sleepily mumbled in a slightly distant voice.

I had a mildly devious thought and decided to see if I couldn't communicate with the sleeping demon. I leaned in a bit and whispered, "You're a monster now and you'll die if you don't eat what monsters eat."  
My unconscious cellmate's brow furrowed slightly before a response slowly fell into the air moments later, "There has to be another way. I'd rather die."

I really hoped it wasn't this easy to mess with _me_ in my sleep. Lords only could guess at what Meryl might have tried to suggest to me while I was unconscious.

"You'd leave behind your two loving wives and your beautiful daughters all because of pride?" I prodded.

That time I didn't get a response...or at least not one within the short time limit I'd impatiently set. I probably should have just waited-maybe there was a science to talking to someone in a sleeping state. What I did instead was lean in and gently poke the sleeping demon's cheek.

Familiar eyes opened nearly the moment my finger touched skin...and I damn near hit the ceiling in alarm.

"What the...Who are you? Where am I?"  
Backpedaling a short distance away from the crude bed, I stumbled and choked over my response, "Uh...I'm nobody special. This is-you're my cellmate. Yes. We're waiting for...um...a witch? And-Oh! Delilah's coming too...probably."

Despite the fact that I _knew_ my current voice sounded nothing like my real voice, I still attempted to further mask it by making it sound higher pitched. The warbling, uneven result was so transparently fake that it would likely have been hilarious to anyone else watching. As it was, it certainly wasn't amusing my cellmate.

Sitting up and seeing that we were indeed in a cell seemed to provide her with some reassurance that I wasn't completely full of shit. "Okay then, Miss...Nobody, was it? How the fuck did I get here?"  
This part I could answer honestly, forgetting, however, to raise the pitch of my voice. "Apparently you've been sleeping a lot...like...days at a time or more. Then you got kidnapped by these mercenaries and brought here."  
Anger on the rise, the demon stared daggers at me while replying, "That's like saying 'since Kansas City is the capital of Kansas, your toast is ready'. How could those things possibly be related?!"  
"There's a lot of ins, lot of outs...lot of what-have-yous involved here but-Oh, and seriously? It's Topeka, Kansas," I corrected.

"Isn't it, though? So then you're not only from my world, but probably also from the same country. You want to rewind the bullshit and just talk to me? If you're supposed to be my cellmate, how do you even know anything about what's going on here?" my demonic clone challenged, apparently catching me in a trap that I would have laid myself.

Well played, me.

"Fuck it. I'm not getting any sleep today anyway. The truth is going to be harder to swallow than any bullshit I would have tried to feed you, though," I relented, sitting back down a safe distance from this mirror image.  
"Try me. The succubus package doesn't normally come standard on this model so I can handle weirdness," the increasingly _male_ -seeming demon answered.

I took a deep breath and began to lay everything out, "For starters, I'm not just from the same world as you, I'm actually from the same street address, apartment, and probably ill-conceived leap from a bridge. We're...clones I guess? One of us is a copy and my money is on you because I'm still human. Before you ask, I'm currently female because of some enchanted spring water I drank to try and avoid non stop sexual assault."

He blinked several times and made several false starts before responding, "I'm calling bullshit. Front to back. You're just reading my mind or this is another fucked up nightmare dreamscape."

"Well...if I could read your mind, wouldn't I have-you know what...I already know the answer to that. You've made it so there's literally nothing I could tell you that you're going to believe," I pouted.  
"If you know so much then why are you a prisoner? Sorry-I mean _posing_ as a prisoner," he asked.  
"They grabbed both of us to get to the same person. She doesn't actually have anything to do with you, either. The rest of this is complicated...but there are two schools of thought. The first is that you are the original me and I am just a self-aware, living construct built from your lost essence. The second is that you are a copy of me, living a life that I was forced to abandon and forget...probably because you were already living it," I explained.

"Does it matter who's the original? Assuming I'm going to believe any of what you're saying, of course. Seriously...if we both think we are and have the memories and thought processes to back it up, can't we just say we both are? And what does that have to do with why we're both here? Focus on the important shit!" he demanded.  
"Fine. Your wife put out a bounty on me and these mercenaries are trying to help an unrelated party deal with some pretty heinous shit so they kidnapped you first, knowing that we'd come to get you out. Oh, and you're dying," I explained directly, sliding the last part in as an afterthought.

"How could these mercenaries know that?" he asked, his eyes telling me he wanted this issue out of the way before asking what I meant about the dying.  
"Because until I drank that enchanted water I looked exactly like you...you know, without the snatch and the succubus parts. Meryl said that since we had the same name and face, they could turn _you_ in for my bounty and it'd be legally binding in Alnor. I'm not sure how they knew where you lived or anything like that," I continued my explanation.

"Meryl? Wait...how is Meryl involved? You mean my sister-in-law, right?" he asked.  
"Yes. She started chasing me after she saw me...looking as I did just like a certain someone else she has a thing for. She knew you were still in Alnor and not a human so...she decided to stay with me. Meryl wasn't going to let these mercenaries screw over her sister so…" I let the thought hang in the air, hoping that was enough.  
He finally nodded as several of the pieces came together. "That...actually makes sense. As much as anything makes sense in this. So...maybe I believe you. But seriously...why would you say I'm dying? Does this have something to do with this whole clone situation?"

"The short version is that you're a succubus now. You...uh… _know_ what that means, right?" I asked rhetorically.  
"Not this again. No. Not happening. Not now, not ever," he asserted angrily. "There's got to be another solution or a way to get myself back to normal."

It was a snap answer on his part, likely trained in many arguments with others. The problem was that it was a lie and we both had to know it.

I crossed my arms and stared at him. "Maybe I'm not you, then. The near immortality-okay, maybe I could see giving that up. But a pair of wives that would probably do just about anything for you up to and including the possible murder of someone that looks like you, and...dude, you've got kids. Maybe you can actually sell your argumentative bullshit to other people, but we both know you won't fool me. I can't even imagine what it feels like to have kids but I know I wouldn't let them grow up without a father."

"If you're supposed to be me then you should already know," he accused.

I shook my head and leaned forward to further emphasize my point and possibly flaunt my cleavage. "No, I don't. I begged that witch Miranda to take all of those memories so I could have a chance at my own life. Everything you did and experienced upon coming here-those were the memories that were taken. The only reason I would have made that choice-the only reason that makes sense is that I wouldn't have been able to bear the thoughts of that family-YOUR family, if I couldn't be with them."

Apparently pushed past a breaking point, he nearly exploded at me. "Fuck you! Have _you_ tried cock yet, princess? You have no idea what I've already been through in this place and now everyone I love fucking turns on me. 'Go down to one of the brothels we own and take it like a woman' or, 'You'll really love it once you try it', and the classic 'Go up to that bistro and suck down a load from that nice gay chef. Maybe it'll taste like crème fraîche!' This is _bull_ shit!"

"No, I haven't tried it...because I'm a HUMAN, asshole! And please...whatever hell you think you've been through is probably a carriage ride in the park against the shit sandwich I've been handed," I contested as I leapt to my feet.

He cracked his knuckles as though preparing for a fight, "Oh yeah? Fine. How about we make this interesting? 10,000 gold says that the worst thing that's happened to you isn't half as bad as the worst thing I've had to suffer through."  
I stepped forward in response to the provocation, "I have a better idea...and nowhere near that much gold. How about when you lose this contest, you agree to start working the pipe and swallowing the gravy like a fucking succubus is supposed to?!"

At that he got a look in his eye that instantly made me want to rethink that last suggestion of mine. "You want to play it that way? Succubi can get energy from women too. If your life here has been sooo horrible then offer something comparable, like...oh, I'm sure we could find something hiding under those tight little breeches. Though we both know you don't have the _balls_ for that."

This asshole was thinking about fucking ME. What is _wrong_ with me? Regardless of my own inhuman libido, there was no backing down, and we both knew it.

"You're on, and once this witch shows up and turns me back to normal, I'll even volunteer to be the first to paint the back of your throat white," I sneered, only half aware of what I was saying.  
He gave a creepy smile in response (did I really look like that?) and answered, "Fine, I'll start. I was nearly raped to death by an arachne within hours of arriving on the island. She tore off an arm and a leg and I barely survived."

"You probably antagonized her. Okay...I was nearly suffocated by a spider withOUT the bonus rape and had to listen to her telling me the whole time that she was going to fuck my corpse."

"I was literally fucked into a coma by my own WIVES."

"I touched a Ryu's reverse scale and she squeezed me for days, breaking bones. Then I was charged with death for my trouble."

"Aww, poor baby. I had an entire goblin tribe pound me for so long that I ended up with a mostly shattered pelvis."

"Oh, of course...I have to deal with the fallout from shit YOU did. Being recognized from some painting, having every goblin walking the earth giving me 'the look', and everyone assuming I'm some bloated plutocrat after whatever the fuck you did with the markets."

"Whatever, I'm done playing around. I was raped by an ancient succubus that nearly drove me mad with lust, nearly died at my own wedding with my formerly insane wife, and _then_ had to experience the pain of my own death NINE times before mostly dying for real and coming back like this."

Fuck...that last one was pretty bad. I only had one possible trump card to throw and I had no idea if it would be enough.

"I'll admit...that last one is pretty rough but the other two hardly count. We both know the hot ones are always crazy and there's no way you're going to convince me that mind blowing sex is a bad thing," I asserted without looking away.  
My competitor actually blushed a bit before violently shaking his head, "I admit nothing. If Del thought I actually enjoyed it, she'd...well I don't know what she'd do but I don't even want to think about it. But the rest still stands. You give up?"

I offered a wry grin in response. "You wish. How about the fact that the 200,000 gold bounty Karisa put up practically begs any bounty hunter alive to come take a piece of me. And if that doesn't do it then, as we speak, the Delilah _you're_ so scared of is hunting me to tear me apart just to feed YOU."

He took a breath to respond and simply let the air escape, repeating the process several times with a growing intensity to his furrowed brow. "Yeah...that's a tough one. I'm actually a bit sorry now since I guess that's technically my fault. I'll concede that if she _had_ caught you, I likely wouldn't be able to match it...but she hasn't. Plus...now I could just ask her to stop."

I shook my head in contest, "Not if you're asleep for days, weeks, or the rest of your life."

"Tch," was the only sound he gave in protest. "This is dumb. Neither of us is going to bend...as expected. I know you're right about...things, even if I really don't want to admit it. But level with me...you wouldn't have agreed to this ridiculous contest without some curiosity about the consequences of losing, right?"  
"Maybe that succubus blood is just making you extra horny," I quipped.  
"Hilarious, really," he answered dryly.  
"So then what-" I began.  
He cut in immediately, "Oh, I wasn't done saying just how fucking funny that was. The English language simply isn't up to the task of encompassing the breadth of the hilarity you've so carelessly unleashed. My next child is sure to pop out of the womb laughing to beat the band."

"Eat a dick," I said.  
"Thanks for reminding me. Ugh, actually...I'm starting to feel really tired so we'll just say you won," he said as let out a large yawn, his eyelids starting to look heavy.  
"Please tell me you're just fucking with me," I nearly pleaded, having seen no sign of the witch that was supposed to be here.  
"Hmm?" he responded, lethargy obviously marking his features, his skin actually going a bit paler as he slowly turned to me.

I poked him again and was rewarded with another moment of lucidity that was quickly fading. Maybe it made a bit of sense...he didn't really wake up until I'd touched him. That suggested that maybe the contact was enough to transfuse a bit of my energy. That he was fading now, so quickly, seemed to bear that out as truth.

Fucking hell! I _needed_ him awake if Delilah showed up. On closer inspection, he actually looked sickly enough that I was worried that he might never wake up again if he went back to sleep. Even if fate was playing yet another cruel prank on me, I wasn't going to let my best insurance policy go. That was the story I told myself, at least, so I didn't have to imagine how those sad violet eyes would react if she found her husband dead, and to ignore the mechanics of what I would have to do to make certain that outcome didn't come to pass.

Who was I really trying to fool, here? With the oppressive sexual tension that suffused the very air of this place, it was only a matter of time before I had no choice but to succumb. All of my attempts to see this person as a female had failed, somewhat thankfully, as I think being able to see a clone of myself as female might have suggested that Cecily had permanently damaged me. At the same time, that meant that the one reliable way to solve this problem was...distressing.

"Take off your fucking pants and cover your face with the blanket," I demanded.  
Perking up only slightly, he took on a curious look. "Wait, are...you going to-"  
"I don't want to have to look at you. It's weird. Don't say anything, don't move, and...you _will_ be paying me back for this when I get my real body back," I spat as I stripped out of my still damp clothing, quickly enough that I must have seemed quite eager.  
"Actually…" he quietly said, "I don't know if I can even keep my eyes open. Later, maybe? If you still want to."

Oh goodie. I'd never be able to doubt that I'd made 100% of this utterly insane choice on my own, now. He seemed to stir from the small contact of my fingers on his skin, further reinforcing that this was the only option that didn't leave us holding hands until the lich showed up to end me. I couldn't entirely deny that some part of me would have always wondered if I hadn't used this body as nature intended at least once before I was turned back.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled his loose pants down and instantly had a change of heart when the monster beneath was revealed.

"Whoa, that is NOT mine! What the hell?!" I screamed, even as the likely liters of blood needed to inflate that cudgel mobilized toward that end.  
"Dunno...was just like that when I woke up. You...sure about this?" he asked, his eyes still slightly unfocused.

"I'm not sure about anything anymore," I mumbled as I positioned myself above him and prepared to challenge reality directly.

Already naked, but desperate to ease myself into this gender-bent travesty, I gingerly sat myself down upon his midsection. With that inhuman tower of flesh pressed flat between us, I'd probably have some time to talk myself out of the whole thing or to at least try to imagine some other scenario that didn't see that thing inside of me. As the moist flesh of my nethers touched the silken steel of the demon's member beneath me, his eyes finally opened wide.

"What the-Shit! What did you just do?! I feel like I just drank a gallon of coffee and swallowed an entire bottle of Viagra," he exclaimed, his face now showing complete surprise.

I tried to ignore his question, not wanting to be dragged, screaming, back into this strange reality within which I was about to literally fuck myself. My mission to think of this demon as only female had failed before it had even truly started. At some point, the very female demands of my _own_ body, likely enhanced by the demonic power that coursed through this world, had eroded the remaining objections within me.

He reached up to touch my cheek and I nearly slapped him with a chastising growl. "Don't even think about kissing me...on the mouth." I added with no small amount of shame accompanying my delay. "This is only to keep you alive and I have to draw a fucking line somewhere. Just...please just lay there and let me do this."  
"You just look like another girl to me. If I didn't feel more awake now than in the last several months, I wouldn't be taking the risk that I could slip this past Del and Risa on a technicality," he answered, looking toward the door as he did so.

Even if my thoughts were a turbulent miasma of oppressive doubt, my body spoke in distinct clarion tones to proclaim readiness with far more certainty. The outer folds of my femininity laid idle upon the demon's firmness beneath me, the heat of it alone radiating up and through my nethers, gathering within my core as I began to tremble with anticipation.

However female the demon within my clutches might have been, it was a man's implement that grew and pulsed below me. The growing heat was like the insistent itch of a rash, tempting and taunting with the promise of the relief to come if one would simply...scratch.

I swallowed my shame, deciding to save it for afterwards...when I'd almost certainly be needing it.

With the first of many actions that called my very sexual identity into question, I slid myself backwards upon him, feeling the delightful sensation of his taut skin sliding across my sensitive lips below. Even the tiniest of movements had sent twitters over every part of me, a prelude for the even grander feelings that began as I slid myself forward again.

A small but growing sense of satisfaction took root as I repeated the movement, the skin of the futanari cock now glistening with the copious liquid my body had begun to release in expectation of the journey to come. My secretions had become thick like honey, allowing me to easily slide across the turgid flesh I held captive.

Another slight movement of my hips carried me forward again as my unlikely partner gasped slightly. Reveling in the nearly forgotten feeling of sexual control, I began to slide slowly back again, exhaling in sudden shock as the ridge of the flesh I'd begun teasing caught upon the hidden pearl of my now engorged clitoris.

My alarmed gasp only earned a smug grin as he began to look rather pleased with himself. Regardless of how good it felt, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of an acknowledgement.

I kept up the same deliberate, measured pace for what seemed like hours. No longer avoiding his contact with my clit, I now sought it out, drawing myself up against the edge of my release, only to fall back before my body's surrender could overwhelm me. After the first touch of electricity had shown me how, I kept up our shared torture as I continued to drag my sensitive flesh against his.

Sliding forward one final time, I raised myself up over him and reached back to grasp his firmness, the tip already weeping in expectation. I shook my head in a futile attempt to banish my trepidation as I found that my smaller feminine hands were barely able to fully encircle it.

I then slowly directed the head back and forth across my forbidden entrance, even more of my moisture clinging to the blood-engorged skin. Moving the thickness again between the lips of my magically granted sex, I felt a heady rush as it caught upon the edge of my abyss.

After the third time I'd caught his organ at the gates of my center, I let it go, leaving it gripped at the barest edges of the flesh within me.

Sighing in anticipation, he made an infuriating final statement, "It...isn't too late to stop."

We were well past that point now, and he knew it. This was the same bullshit I would have tried to self-indemnify later in the wake of possible residual guilt.

"Just shut up," I panted, closing my eyes.

I moved myself back slightly, careful not to lose my grip upon the steel-like member, until I was directly above him. There were a dozen ways I could have ended our encounter, right in that moment. To continue was so much easier though, now needing only that I surrender to a basic quantum force and let it drive him into me. I nearly wept to realize that I could find no objections to what I was about to do, my instinct having taken me completely.

My final trice of hesitation lasted only as long as the time it took to draw in a large breath while I began to focus on the moments that would follow.

I relaxed the muscles in my hips slightly as I felt the rigid intruder slip further within, the sudden heat of the living flesh leading the way until it quickly met with my body's resistance. My virginal barrier, coupled with the forearm-like thickness of this inhuman member, was making it impossible for gravity to finish the act of my defloration. I tilted my head slightly, my eyes still closed in determination, and exhaled all at once as I grabbed him just above the hips and forced myself down.

As the ring of my maidenhead was sundered, I felt a thrumming sensation run across my skin. The sheer depravity of what I was doing had hidden any pain I might have felt as I continued to pull myself closer to my demonic double. The penetrating manhood stretched me wide as I continued, feeling like I might be pulled apart at any moment.

A desperate moan escaped my lips once I had come to a halt upon him, barely half of his length buried within me. From a purely physical angle, it felt like little more than a quickly growing, unfamiliar fullness. The psychological understanding of it, however, had me quivering like a leaf in a stiff breeze.

Taking any more of this painfully large prick was becoming a frightening prospect, even as I felt him flex and squirm beneath me while I worked my lower muscles, betraying myself to a growing need to be fully penetrated.

"S-stop looking at me!" I screamed down at my immensely pleased partner, reaching down to cover his eyes with my hands.  
Apparently having other ideas, he gripped my wrists and held them apart, staring directly at me as he replied, "Or what? You'll stop?"

I looked away, suddenly afraid of the consequences of how far I'd already gone. Why did it have to feel so incomparably amazing? I shouldn't have had anything teasing me onward to continue, but it must have been obvious in my expression that I wouldn't stop...or perhaps that I couldn't.

"I...could," I weakly replied, looking away before continuing, "S-should I?"

The only answer I got was a pair of hands grasping my hips tightly to hold me up as he withdrew from me, ever so slightly, only to drive himself further still a moment later. I released a half-groan as the small movement allowed still more of him into my covetous channel, shaking as a climax almost immediately overwhelmed me. Nothing I'd ever heard from any woman before suggested that such simple movements could evoke such powerful sensations. Even the feeling of his hands so firmly gripping my hips was inflaming my desire.

Looking back at my partner, I saw a slight glow now coming from those familiar eyes.

"Y-you...bastard! You're using m-magic on me!" I screamed, my tone uneven as I began to move my hips in tiny, slow circles.  
"I feel it but I can't control it! This has never...ahh...happened before." he replied defensively, not releasing his grip upon me. "S-should I try to stop it? he asked through gritted teeth while I felt continuous waves of electricity rolling over me, stimulating me more powerfully than any physical touch I'd ever felt.

"W-well...you should-" I began before I felt the same feeling slam into me again, drawing me again up against the edge of my limits, with a further promise that it would be so simple to give myself over to that feeling, to let myself fall into an unending existence of nothing more than that singular joy that pulled at my consciousness.  
"I should…?" he teased as he began to gently push back up against me.

His last small thrust carried him the rest of the way into my depths, making me feel like I'd been kicked in the midsection when I felt him touch what could only be the ring of the cervix, deep within me.

I began breathing heavily as I began to run my hands over my own body, grabbing for my own nipples in the desperate hope that the added stimulation would give me the release I longed for with every fiber of my being.

"Nnn...stop-no. I...don't-!" I began as I slumped forward onto him. "I'm not...a woman. B-but I need you...to fuck me like one. Please…" I continued, now begging.

This was not at all like I had expected. I'd hoped for a quick, uncomfortable tumble with this demon after which I could simply go back to waiting for that witch to arrive and turn me back to normal. My hopes for "normal" were changing before my eyes into a very palpable desire to be nothing more than a semen-stained toy for this demon.

Tears began to stream from my eyes as I realized my helplessness. It was if I was being asked to kill myself and realizing that nothing in the world would please me more.

He rolled me over onto my back and pinned my arms helpless at my sides as he stared down at me. Leaning forward, he set loose deafening whispers, the sound of his voice seeming to reverberate throughout my entire body. "You feel...amazing. It's like we belong together. If you give up being me, you could have this whenever you want. I...could convince Del and Risa..."

What was stopping me from doing exactly that? Was there anything I'd experienced that could match this? Would Delilah even let him keep me as a mistress? A pet? What was I really giving up…?

Mustering up every ounce of willpower I could, I nearly cried as I answered, "I...can't. I made...a promise."  
"To Meryl?" he asked, his look more serious and less teasing.  
I nodded frantically. "And Zee...and myself."

Even as he smiled, I felt some of the mind-warping magics lessen, my body breaking out in a sweat as I desperately squirmed in an attempt to chase them, even to my own damnation.

"Okay good. Now, you'd better hold on because this is driving me crazy," he gasped in exertion as he pulled himself from within me almost entirely.

I could only whimper as I raised my hips slightly, my body begging him to finish what'd I'd begun. Closing his eyes a moment in a renewed determination, he pushed forward again, lancing back into my depths and reawakening my forbidden desire.

I didn't hesitate in throwing my legs around him, arching my back to draw attention to the breasts that had been nothing but an inconvenience until this moment. Here, however, they had the intended effect as he released my hands and captured a nipple in his mouth, one of his free hands teasing the other as my muscles began to flex completely at random.

Answering every desire I had in that moment, he began to make slow, powerful thrusts. I raised my hips to meet each stroke, flexing my lower muscles as hard as I could as the tension between us continued to rise. Now free from his grasp, I threw my arms around him as my body gave way the first time.

"O-oh...no," I mumbled before the spreading wildfire of orgasm swept across me. My vision went completely white for several moments as I rode the spastic wave that held me, my mouth open in a silent scream as he continued to nip and suck at my nipples, carrying me beyond reason.

My sudden release seemed to urge him on, his pace quickening as I could nothing but hold on. I began mumbling, at once trying to plead for him to stop and to beg him to never do so.

Each thrust hit me like a blow to the chest just as each withdrawal left me feeling painfully empty. I continued to moan desperately as I began kiss at his neck, lustfully cooing into his ear to assure him that I wanted more, my fingers tearing across his back as I tried and failed to keep from screaming outright.

My partner had begun to thrust more erratically, evidence that he wouldn't last much longer. I reached beneath the wings on his back and grabbed at his ass, trying to pull him into me more deeply as I approached another peak.

"Oh god…" my partner said above me in a shuddering voice as I felt his pounding cock growing even larger within me.

Despite being nearly lost in a sea of mind-numbing pleasure, I was still struck by a powerful realization in that moment. I didn't even want to think about the potential consequences of what I could feel coming.

"You...need to pull out!" I screamed, angry that I was so close to my climax as I arched myself up into him with all of my strength.  
"Okay...you need to l-let me go first," he answered as I unconsciously tightened my legs around him, driving him even harder into my already sore passage.  
"Just a bit...more…" I pleaded frantically as I felt my release approaching.  
"I really need to move! Unless…" he began ominously as I felt him tense further in my grip.

No consequences could have convinced me to release him in that moment...not when I was so close!

I felt the first touch of fiery warmth within me as he tensed again and howled, the realization of what was happening finally pushing me over the edge. My vaginal walls began to flutter as he drove himself into my depths and went completely rigid, the crown of his manhood nearly sealed against the entrance to my borrowed womb.

"Ooooh!" I screamed as I felt his engorged cock throbbing in rhythm as it unleashed rope after damning rope of scalding seed within me.

The molten fluid set my nerves aflame in every place it touched as I convulsed beneath him. Never having felt anything so mind-shattering, I bit into his neck so fiercely that I tasted blood, and was still unable to hold in my screams at being so completely overcome with pleasure.

Going completely rigid myself, I clung to his body as I felt the intermittent pulses of his ejaculation continue for at least a full minute before finally slowing to a halt, the heat still spreading throughout me as though my entire body had just been a vessel for him to fill.

After what must have been an hour of aftershocks that ran through both of us, I finally started to reassert some sanity, realizing that I'd never released him from my near death-grip. The foreign warmth that continued to spread within me was making me second-guess the wisdom of the entire plan making me curse myself further as I felt it starting to slowly leak from around the shaft that was still fully hilted within me.

"Damn it! I told you to pull out!" I complained, looking away as I tried to shift the blame.

Finally sliding himself free of my grasp as an almost nauseating flow of his thick cream poured from me, he threw himself down on the makeshift bed beside me. "You were squeezing me so tight I could barely even move."

We laid there in relative silence, both breathing deeply at the exertion. A dizzying torrent of emotions assaulted me as I realized I wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing. I imagined Meryl naked and still couldn't wait to properly sex her up, so I was at least able to put worries about my sexuality to rest...more or less.

"Fucking...damn it," I cursed, quickly deciding on the ideal revenge...assuming I'd ever walk again. Hiding a smile, I took the opportunity to say the most amusing thing that came to mind in that moment, "I'm sure you'll take responsibility…"  
"Don't even go there. I still have nightmares about that entire goblin tribe showing up on my doorstep," he lamented, paling slightly.  
"Have you considered...you know...keeping it in your pants?" I asked, barely able to hide a smirk.  
"I think...yeah. I'm pretty sure I hate you. Though, I feel like you can give me a better perspective on that thing I've been avoiding," he said thoughtfully.  
"You mean cock?" I asked, artfully destroying his attempt to skirt the issue and less personally concerned about it after having ridden the damn thing.  
"Yeah. That. Wow, you and Meryl were made for each other," he grumbled in reply.

I knew what he was trying to ask. In answer, I reached down to lightly touch my abused sex and came away with a disturbing amount of the fluid that continued to pour from me. "I could do without the mess, the throbbing soreness, and the creeping horror that is worrying that there will be further consequences from this...but…"  
"But…?" He prodded.  
"Look...I wouldn't even consider myself bisexual, and you probably know that. But...I'd do it again. Not now!" I added as his hand started to creep across my chest. "Any desire I have left is buried by soreness."  
" _Any_ desire?" he asked.  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I demanded, slapping his roaming hand away even as my skin reddened slightly. "Fucking demon...fine. The damage has already been done, but I don't want to look at you this time," I relented almost immediately.

As I was about to move, I heard a high-pitched "Eep!" before the door to the cell flew open, a small bundle of girl and bright clothing rolling into a faceplant on the hard stone next to us. Springing to her feet in a botched attempt to look dignified, the tiny bespectacled girl smacked herself in the face with her own small staff and fell back onto her rump, her eyes tearing up immediately as she clutched her staff tightly and began to sniffle.

I wondered if they made those amazing oversized hats in adult sizes as I regarded the obvious witch. Looking so young as to almost appear angelic, the little witch had bright blue eyes resting behind oversized spectacles, framed with short brown hair.

"You're the witch?" I asked.  
Blushing fiercely and looking away, she pushed her glasses up a bit on her nose and nodded.  
"Wait...how long were you at the door?" my devilish double asked.  
She pulled her large hat down to cover her eyes and answered in a shy whisper, "N-not too long…I didn't...um...see any s-s-sex."  
"Whatever," I grumbled dismissively, "You can fix me, right?"  
"...Maybe," she squeaked out, moving up to her knees and sitting up. "Are you s-sure?"

Did she even need to ask? I took one last look back at the still-firm implement that had just ravaged me and sighed. I was sure...right?


	20. Chapter 20 - Found and Lost

Chapter 20 - Found and Lost

-Somewhere Deep Underground

"You're going to save her?" Ixi asked Delilah as the lich asserted control over the spell that kept the powerful dragon's spirit animated.  
"I am not saving her. I am simply assuming control over the effect she called into being. It would be a breach of our contract to end negotiations before we have come to terms. That it will save her life is immaterial. She has done nothing wrong beyond believing the lies of her master. That is not your concern, however," the lich answered, her even tone doing little to cover the anger she felt.  
"You seem to be under the mistaken impression, lich, that you control these negotiations. I am under no obligation to extend the affection I show toward my younger sisters to you," the dragon answered back in an imperious tone.

Delilah's features darkened, her sadness from earlier replaced with a growing bitterness. "Antarylixi, do not mistake my desire to maintain a contract with you as an assurance that I would not be willing to endure Risa's wrath for killing her sister, Meryl, to achieve my goal more expeditiously."  
Instantly turning to the lich, the powerful dragon growled with murderous intent as plumes of angry smoke poured from her nostrils. "I could find another necromancer willing to call me forth and rain fire down upon you for even considering such a threat to my family!"  
Without flinching, Delilah returned the dragon's fierce look as she replied, "But you will not because you realize that such a threat means nothing to me. This negotiation you have demanded is a threat upon _my_ beloved family, so hold your arrogance for those that have a use for it."

With a huff, Ixi turned away slightly and crossed her arms. "You will get no apology for my actions...but I can respect the reason for your threat, just as you understand mine. We are both aware that I must sacrifice some measure of my freedom to demand this negotiation. I have some conditional demands."

The ancient lich sighed inwardly at the dragon's self-importance. She knew, however, that this was part of the difficulty in dealing with one of these mighty mamono.

"You will heed any call I make and serve without complaint while manifested thusly. That is not negotiable," Delilah demanded in her flat monotone.  
"I will not knowingly harm one of my family under any circumstances," Ixi countered.  
"It is unlikely that I would ever be pressed into such a situation again, but I will yield that point. What are your demands?" Del answered after a moment of contemplation.

"You will yield the one that bears my mark to lay with me on...three occasions, you will swear upon your own soul that you will find another way to save the life of your husband that does not see that being dead, and...you will summon me to single combat with that salamander should you encounter her again," Ixi asserted as she tried to hide a slight blush to her skin.

"The second demand is unreasonable. It cannot be guaranteed that there is another way to save my husband that would not contravene his wishes," the lich proclaimed in protest.  
Uncrossing her arms, the dragon turned back to Delilah and gave her counter-offer, "I will yield that point if you swear that you will search, in earnest, for another option and take it if it will save both of them."

"That demand is...acceptable, as are your other requests. So it is sworn. I, Delilah, swear upon my name and my will that this contract will be honored. Even should my own existence be called in to question, I will not fail to heed the prohibitions as set forth in our bargain," Delilah said as she produced a globe of violet energy that bled with the runes that sealed her pledge.

Pained by what must follow to seal the bargain but satisfied to have obtained her own demands, Antarylixi kneeled before the diminutive undead and touched the globe, the characteristic green eyes of her family flashing a momentary violet to match the lich before the orb vanished, the contract sealed.

"You seem...tired. Are you certain you're up to the task of fulfilling our bargain?" The dragon asked as her form began to fade.

Delilah fell to the hard stone of the tunnel floor, her inhuman body not even able to hide the telltale signs of exhaustion while she was pushed up against the limits of her magical reserves. "I have not touched my husband's blessed energy since he left for Kaori, many months ago. There are...less-pleasant ways that I can recover my energy, but they will take time I can ill afford to waste. I imagine you are quite pleased with yourself."

"How could I be otherwise? Dragons are incapable of making incorrect decisions. If I made this decision, it must be correct," Ixi said with a smile that called the legitimacy of her arrogant statement into question as her spirit faded completely.

With that, Delilah began a meditation to beg the wayward fragments of energy from the many restless spirits that haunted the Prosperity mine.

-  
-Elsewhere

Meryl wiped sweat from her brow as she fought to bite back on the thousand angry things she wanted to say. "Damn it, Zee...this hand is fucked up. I can set the bone and splint it but you're going to need a real healer to look at it."  
Azalea only winced slightly as Meryl worked on the most grievous of her injuries, frowning as she saw Meryl's pained expression. "You're upset with me."

Stopping what she was doing, Meryl nearly leapt to her feet as anger and saddened frustration broke the veneer she'd been trying to hold. "Yes, I'm fucking upset! You were supposed to protect Joe-err...Ari! What good is a bodyguard that lets herself get the shit kicked out of her and her ward be taken?! I trusted you! Even if your friends don't hurt him, there's no way they'll be able to stop Delilah. And now he's gone...again…"

Zee swallowed hard before answering, "I'm sorry, okay? I'll get her back."  
Meryl quickly finished her job of binding the wound before turning away in disgust. "You can take your apology and shove it right up your ass. I believe you _could_ , but I'm supposed to trust that you actually will? Maybe you should just piss the fuck off so I don't ever make the mistake of relying on you again. No, I'll handle it myself."

Wounded by the barbed words, at least as badly by their delivery as by their truth, Azalea gently grabbed Meryl's arm. "I know where they'd take her and her clone. You won't find it without me."  
Meryl fumed in anger as she threw off the salamander's grip, "Why do you even care?! An apology means less than nothing if you're just going to let the same shit happen again. I'm sure I'm supposed to care about whatever happened to you to make you this way, but I care a lot more about keeping the man I lo-like...a lot close to me. And what the fuck is up with that bullshit contract you made?! You're either slow in the head or you like him!"

Biting back on an unspoken sadness, Zee looked back into Meryl's unsympathetic gaze and shrugged, "It's just...hard for me to make decisions sometimes. I get hung up on what could go wrong or if it's the right choice. And...I do like him. Is that a problem?"  
With an angry sigh, Meryl dragged Zee to her feet and towards the door of the inn. "I owe you for the doctor, so let's go. You can make this travesty up to me by telling me what's got you so twisted-up on the way. If we don't hurry, Ari'll probably fuck her double...or do something equally insane before we get there."  
Zee actually chuckled a bit at that and answered, "Come on, no human has a libido _that_ strong."  
Meryl finally allowed herself a smile as they stepped back out into the rain, replying with a smirk, "The would-be man plans to beat _you_ in a fight...and the only thing I've ever seen him objectively fail is resisting a piece of ass."  
Helping pull the horse and cart from the nearby stables, Azalea argued back, "You uh...sure you want a guy like that?"  
With a wide smile, Meryl answered with a far-off look, "I've never really wanted anyone else. And don't try to throw me off the scent here! After he beats you, I'm not about to let you have him all to yourself."  
Laughing loudly in response, Azalea hopped up in the cart as they made their way onto the road. " _After_ he beats me? How exactly do you think he'll manage that?"

Meryl spurred the horse onward and looked back, smiling even through the rain as she answered, "With a lot of intelligence, no small amount of his special twisted determination, and probably a large quantity of cheating his ass off."

-

"What do you mean 'maybe'? Can you do it or can't you?" I asked as I sat up.  
"First...I...um…" she began with a blush, "I'm Mira. D-did they tell you…" she swallowed hard, her cute shyness starting to turn infuriating.

The witch remained silent for several moments as though what she'd just said had been enough to qualify as an actual question.

"They haven't told me anything. What are you so nervous about?" I asked, just barely keeping a note of anger from creeping into my voice.  
"Ah! W-well...that is…" she mumbled as she tried to retreat further into her voluminous clothing, finishing her statement in a half-heard whisper. "You...um...to...sex...all of us."  
"Oh...that. Yeah, yeah. Sex you all up. That's no big-wait. That...doesn't include you, does it?" I suddenly asked.

I got what passed for an answer as she flushed crimson and pulled her hat a bit lower on her brow in an obvious attempt to mask a growing smile.

Thrown off balance by the realization of what that would mean with the very young-looking bodies of Mira and the goblin, I shook my head in a failed attempt to find the idea wholly repulsive. "If you get me back to normal...whatever. I didn't think I'd really even have a choice in the matter, and I'm sure as hell not going to proposition any of you...but you can do whatever you want until Zee gets here-it's not like I could stop you."

Suddenly joining the conversation, my clone spoke up, "Hold on, you were actually telling the truth?"  
I turned and threw a look at him that may as well have been flames. "You had better be kidding! I let you stick that...THING in me to keep you awake!"  
He rubbed one of his horns and looked back at me, "You seemed to like it _just_ fine. And can you really blame me? I went to sleep in Alnor and woke up here with you trying to sell me on some complete insanity. I mean...you said it yourself-there's nothing you could have said to make me believe you."

Now it was all coming together. I _had_ tried to kill myself before. Hating myself didn't seem all that out of place, especially in this case.

"Fine! I can be an asshole too!" I began angrily. "If you didn't believe me then that means you thought I was some kind of mamono. I'm sure Delilah would fucking _love_ to hear about this when she shows up!" I then turned back to Mira and proclaimed, "I have a condition."

The witch looked up at me with a bewildered look, "C-condition? But...I'm the one-"  
I didn't give her a chance to finish as I spoke up again, "I could just stay this way, right? You aren't getting a piece of me otherwise and this won't even cost you anything."

I turned back to my clone with a wicked smile as I awaited my answer, his expression already paling at the thought that I'd make good on my threat.

"Okay," Mira answered, now sounding more curious than shy.  
"Right. When I'm back to normal, I want to plow _that_ demon first," I demanded, firing a finger in the direction of the demonic me.  
"Hey, hold on a sec! I'm not just going to let you-" he tried to protest.  
"Done," the witch cut in, her eyes going wide a moment in an obvious desire to see that scene play out. "I'll even restrain him for you!"

I suppose that, like any woman, it seems, even mamono are aroused by yaoi...and this was close enough. That just meant I needed to go back to trying to convince myself that this demon was a girl. It seemed likely that the warm, velvety grasp of a succubus's insides would be all the help I'd need to sell myself that plan.

"Wait, wait, wait. Come on...I'll do anything else!" he pleaded, even while he began to slide towards the open cell door.  
"Yeah, I bet you would," I smirked as I relented somewhat. "Not that I blame you for that...or even for lying to me."  
"I didn't lie! I said 'maybe I believe you'!" he argued, his voice already leaning toward hysterics.

That was technically true and I was pretty sure I half-realized it the moment he said it. "I can respect that. So, _maybe_ you'll still have an unbroken hymen tomorrow. And before you get all pissy, I'm not going to sell you out to Delilah. Why are you even making such a huge deal out of this? If I can handle it then you obviously can."

The harpy I'd seen in the common room chose that moment to peek into the cell with a wide grin before slamming the door and latching it without another word, cutting off any chance of escape.

"No...you don't understand!" he suddenly shouted, a real fear marring his features.

Mira stood up and moved over to him, even as he scuttled away from her, looking like he was seriously considering chewing through the stone walls if that's what it would have taken to escape.

"I won't hurt you," Mira offered soothingly, her shyness from earlier now hidden.  
"But you're going to-" he tried to counter.  
"Shhh. I already know. There's a voice in your head, right?" Mira calmly asked as she buried her earlier shyness entirely beneath a wall of suddenly sympathetic gentleness.

He suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, turning me to face him. "Everything you said before-you were right. But right now, I need you to hear this and know what it means. I would rather die."

The gears in my head were set spinning at a dizzying rate, the seriousness in his voice telling me that there was something important I hadn't considered. Putting myself in his place, I was at a loss to even imagine the scenario in which he'd rather die. The only thing I could imagine was a grim sacrifice or hostage situation.

Damn it! Based on what Delilah had said, giving him my energy was just about the only way to keep him alive. He couldn't have known about me before we met in this cell, and he seemed surprised with how awake he'd been after I first made contact with him. The situation suddenly wasn't leaving me with a lot of options, and despite my threats to the contrary, there was no way I'd even consider my initially planned violation after seeing that look of true desperation.

Mira continued as she reached up to gently place her hand on his shoulder. "It isn't your voice? Your desires?"  
"No...it's someone else," he offered weakly, his shoulders going slack at Mira's touch.  
"Mira, what's going on here?" I asked, unaware I could even make a face as hopeless as the one he now wore.  
"I think I know, and I can tell you...but do _you_ want to hear it?" she asked, pointedly looking at the fearful demon.  
"Just say it, I'd rather know," he said, slumping against the unforgiving stone wall in defeat.

Mira set her staff against the cell door and moved to make direct eye contact with my clone as I sat myself back down, crossing my arms in an attempt to cover some of my suddenly oppressive nakedness.

"The other you was right-you are dying. You aren't really an alp. Um...actually, you aren't you at all. You're...something else," she softly accused.

Catching his head in his hands, he was silent for several moments. He didn't have any reason to believe what she was saying yet, but it was obvious that he would find no falsehood in those words the moment he heard them. All at once he began to grab at his demonic horns, looking as though he wanted to tear them loose completely.

"Then what the fuck am I?!" he screamed, his features softening slightly even as he bristled with anger.  
"You are a very confused succubus," she softly asserted. "A succubus that believes she is someone else-Him," she concluded, pointing a finger at me.  
"So...what-this voice in my head is her?" he asked, already convinced that it must have been true.

Mira hesitated a moment before answering. "No. Maybe. I...don't actually know. What happened to you shouldn't be possible. I believe that when you nearly died in Kaori, you were full of so much demonic energy that your dying thoughts manifested as an actual presence. That presence eventually came to rest within a succubus that had already passed on-likely from one of the many terrors that roam Kaori-and you effectively reanimated that body."

I was utterly out of my depth here, and the look of growing concern on the demon's face convinced me to hold my tongue for fear of striking any of the nerves that had just been laid bare.

"Then I'm a copy, a clone, a...lie. I can't stop that voice and I can't live without the things she demands that I do. I'm...nothing. What can I even-?" he began.  
"Bullshit," I quickly interjected, "None of that is supposed to matter, right? Your first girlfriend's name was-"  
"Marie," he answered without being prompted.  
"And best pony is-" I continued with a grin.  
"Trixie," he answered, his expression not changing. "But she just said it-those are all lies. This isn't even a question. So...everything I remember is meaningless. Risa and Del...and...oh god."  
"It isn't meaningless!" I commandingly proclaimed, trying to snap him out of his deconstruction.  
He shook his head, and took a shivering breath as he despondently replied, "Look...I'm not an idiot. I know that it all happened and that it all matters in the grand scheme of things, but you don't get it. _You_ don't remember and I'm…"

He began to shake in a nearly silent weeping, his entire form shuddering with each breath as the implications ran through his mind. This was another person that understood what it meant to be pushed so far that the only answer was to give up. I knew the pain of seeing everything disintegrate around me, when even the thought of taking another step felt like yet another insult heaped upon the emotional injury that I simply couldn't bear.

Even knowing exactly how he felt, there was nothing I could say. There was something he wasn't saying...but that meant there was still some hope. That he could hesitate to mention his greatest worry meant that he was afraid to give the idea power...and that he hadn't let it take over.

He looked up me and then at the witch and shook his head. "I couldn't tell them...my wives or my girls. Lorelei knows that I haven't really been me and Del probably knew it the moment she saw me. That voice just got so loud that the only thing I could do was sleep. I just know that if I let that voice be right, even once, I won't be able to hold on to myself. That voice will become me. If there isn't another way to stop this...decay, I'd rather die than become someone else. I don't know why Del let me lie to her-to lie to myself."

As I watched the warring emotions play across his troubled visage, a familiar voice crawled forth from the shadows, "Because I can do nothing but make that lie the truth, my love."  
Not even looking up, he closed his eyes and whispered in response to the voice, "Del…"  
"Yes, Joe?" the whispering shadow answered.  
"She's the one you-"

With her features a paler ashen hue than before and her eyes sunken and noticeably dimmer with their sad lavender glow, Delilah threw her arms around the demon. Despite the battle that raged in his mind, there was no hesitation as he wrapped the small undead tightly within his arms.

This woman, Delilah, was literally the bane of my existence. Within this demon's loving embrace, however, she had become little more than a fragile, vulnerable girl that was faced with losing her beloved. Nothing in the world even existed to her beyond the hands that tightly held her.

I clutched at my chest as an unknown pain gripped me, the agony not abating until I forced myself to rip my tear-stained gaze away from them.

My heart tossed about further as I heard the lich's voice tear across the empty field of my memories, setting loose a fire of unfamiliar pain. "I...cannot-she cannot be you, Joe. She is not the you that loves me. She is not the you that I love."

Looking away from the heart-rending scene before me, I saw Mira approach the two of them before whispering a few words and extending her staff toward the undead girl. Delilah tried to react for only a moment before redoubling her grip upon her lover and relaxing her body, sighing in a surpassing, longing happiness before evaporating into the ether.

"Such a waste," Mira mumbled in an indecipherable tone before another wave of her staff cast magical restraints over my confused demonic copy. She then turned to me and straightened her glasses as she spoke again in her stuttering, bashful voice, "We...um...should get started."


	21. Chapter 21 - Welcome Back, My Friend

Chapter 21 - Welcome Back, My Friend

Not content to stay as silent as the shellshocked demon and possessed of my own sympathetic anger, I confronted Mira coldly. "What did you just do to her?"

Admiring me over the polished glass of her spectacles, the look of unchecked desire she cast at me had me seriously doubting that her shy persona from before had been anything more than an a well-rehearsed act. That moment of doubt lasted only until she pushed the wayward frames back into place as her lips drew back together in a nervous smile.

"I...um. She needed to be sent away. She isn't...um...hurt or anything," the witch tried to reassure me.  
While my most recent sexual conquest remained in shock, staring numbly at the cracked and weathered stone of the ceiling, I spoke up in his stead, "Where is she, then?"  
Mira recoiled from my voice as though wounded by the sound, and stammered in reply, "S-somewhere where she can...rest. I'll tell...um...him, but you should stay away from her."

Try as I might, I couldn't think of any reason this witch would have wished harm upon Delilah, and it certainly didn't seem like I was going to get anything more from the shivering wallflower of an enchantress before me. Any hope I'd had of putting some fight back into the eyes of my shocked clone died as well when I saw no reaction from him at all from my line of questioning.

"Fine, but you'd better be telling the truth or I'll...be really angry," I began, realizing that I wasn't in any position to actually threaten anybody, continuing in a more subdued tone, "Oh, and forget about the whole 'plowing that demon' request. We'll settle that matter on our own, somewhere on down the line."

Producing a piece of chalk from a large bag at her hip, Mira waved off my words as she cleaned a spot on the stone floor and began drawing an elaborate mandala that looked as though it would serve to house the coming ritual. The witch's normal clumsiness vanished the moment she began tracing the arcane diagram upon the stone, the contrast so defined that it was like watching a paraplegic leap from a wheelchair to perform a masterful flamenco dance.

As she began with a voice that was whispering but certain, Mira's words hung in the air as they were spoken, becoming physical flames that fell to the floor. Where her burning words fell, they turned the white chalk design into an evanescing pale green that felt forceful and heavy, despite the otherwise gentle glow that radiated.

Just by the tension in the air, I could tell that Mira's ritual would be done soon. It was impossible to know where I might have learned of such a thing beyond a possible footnote in a role-playing game's spell compendium, but it played out before me like a familiar symphony. Once the climax had been reached, she would ask me to enter the circle and then...I could only hope.

Still pointlessly hiding the more suggestive parts of my body as I waited to be called forth, I removed my hands and took a last look down at myself. The pleasingly soft skin and generous, supple curves that had seemed so foreign and unwanted before had already begun to feel so completely natural. Perhaps a result of my own bizarre fantasies, or possibly a consequence of the deviltry wrought upon me by Cecily, I found myself imagining what I would do the _next_ time this happened.

"Enter the circle," Mira finally called out, pulling me back through the mists of fantasy and back into the now.

I shook my head at the realization that I'd already accepted that I'd almost certainly find an excuse to _accidentally_ acquire more of that spring water in the future, rubbing my belly as I wondered what _other_ mischief I might get into when that time came. "Down, girl," I whispered to myself as I felt my body excitedly tingle at the thought, hardening my will as I stepped across the threshold of the enchanted circle.

The magic within burned any pleasant fantasies from my mind as a paroxysm of convulsive misery nearly threw me to the ground. I remembered Dewdrop telling me she'd kept me asleep for two days to spare me the agony of the change the first time. This process wasn't kind enough to let me fall unconscious.

The shock of my reality becoming a singularity of anguish silenced my attempts to scream as my body felt like it was being torn apart and remade all at once. My bones snapped and stretched while even my skull fractured, the splintering bones tearing through my skin at times before stretching back into their proper places. In an absolute contrast to my penetrative activity of only moments before, the pain that assaulted my feminine sex felt more reminiscent of hot irons being thrust within me to tear my core out from the inside.

While it may not have been as pleasant as the two-day nap that gently pulled me through my initial transformation, the process to return my body was certainly moving much more quickly. Even with the raw agony doing its infernal, measured best to slow my perception of time, the whole process couldn't have taken more than a few minutes. With the final snap of my painfully broken jaw sliding back into place, the pain suddenly stopped, leaving me holding desperately to cracks that had opened in the stone floor beneath me.

I'd already had a piss-poor night of sleep before going through the crushing process and didn't already feel the lust-driven hands of my captors upon me. In the absence of any will to remain otherwise, I fell asleep almost immediately.

-  
-From a certain demon's perspective

"See? That's...the real you. It s-should be more obvious n-now that you can see it," the witch stated as she looked down at me.

I didn't even really want to look. She wasn't lying. Why would she? Despite understanding her words as honest, some part of me felt that perhaps I needed to see that truth before I could really attempt to accept it. Still lost in the recent series of events that had just transpired in the last few hours, I assumed that seeing that truth wouldn't really affect me any more than anything else I'd already been forced to swallow.

I was wrong.

As I turned my head, I saw _me_ , still covered in sweat from the exertion of the painful ritual. I wasn't ready to see that, no. The voice that had become an oppressive warden within the prison of my own mind knew where I was weak. She knew how to hurt me and used my ever-growing demonic arousal against me.

"Oh lords, just look at him. You almost made him like you, you know? You loved that thought, didn't you?" she tempted from places within me, beyond my reach.  
"Fuck off," I told myself, trying to shut the noise from my mind.

The voice continued unhindered, "Just once more and she'd have fallen, her arms reaching back to urge you on while you hammered into her from behind until your release claimed her as your own, your blessed demonic seed washing away humanity and needless thoughts and leaving nothing but a submissive fuck-pet, desperate to serve you for the rest of eternity. But now...you see _him_ and the thought of the even _more_ amazing things he could do to you makes you ache. You want to touch yourself-to beg for his touch, but would that not be an insult to the man that would own you? Just as you desire, he would collar you and feed you his sublime offering when it suits him. If he asked, you would lay down in the street to give yourself to him. If he asks...If he asks…"

"If...he asks," I mumbled out loud, the echoes of her voice still deafening.  
"And what of your wives and children?" Mira asked, her voice burning away the depraved fog as surely as a backhanded slap from a nun.  
"What did you do to Del?!" I shouted, finally regaining the presence of mind to worry about her sudden disappearance.

Mira had let her glasses slip down the bridge of her nose slightly as she returned my fierce gaze with an emotionless calm. "I thought she would be a lot harder to catch. You know, there are a lot of folks in Kaori that would pay exorbitant prices to get their hands on her, either to punish her or press her into service. I spent months just trying to throw together a plan to get her and I was almost certain it would be impossible. Then, with her boundless intellect, peerless necromantic prowess, and a store of energy pulled from you that might have killed any normal man, she wastes the last of her power on platitudes?"

I snorted as I took in the self-important monologue. "You can't hold her, witch. She'll just-"  
She cut me off with a too-wide grin as she leaned in and spoke, "Reform at her phylactery? No, she's pretty well cut off from that. Not to mention…" she trailed off as she reached back into her large cloth bag and produced an item that made me literally scream in frustration.

The thought of how she'd gotten it in the first place threw icy, lancing fear through me. In her diminutive hands, Mira held up a small familiar chest, not much larger than a music box-the one that I'd only touched once despite its contents having lived inside me for quite some time...the chest that contained Del's phylactery.

"You...you miserable bitch! I'll fucking tear you apart!" I screamed as a seemingly boundless, unfamiliar strength poured through me. With an enraged growl, I jumped from the simple bed, shattering the magical restraints upon me into misty essence. Within moments I had my hands scant centimeters from being wrapped around the witch's slender throat, an invisible barrier being her only salvation in that moment...and perhaps my own.

"That's enough of that," the witch stated without even a hint of urgency. "I could drop this chest if you aren't careful...or throw it if you plan to be unreasonable."  
"Not if you want to live to see eight years old, you worthless cunt," I hissed, startling myself with the realization that my fingernails had grown longer and my hands noticeably more slender.

Smiling when my reaction showed her that she had regained control of the situation, Mira responded calmly, "Tsk, Tsk. Breaking magical restraints and manifesting your will to try and bring down this barrier? Those don't sound like very _human_ things to do. I wonder what happens if you do too many of those sorts of things…"

I knew the answer even before she'd said anything as the voice in my head roared in exultant laughter at my actions, the taunting demands louder than before as it urged me to rip this girl to pieces. Listening to the voice was tantamount to throwing myself away, but that knowledge did little to calm my fury.

"If I'm going to die anyway, I don't see the harm in killing two birds with one stone. But...if you're telling me this, you must want something else from me. Cut the shit."

She took a step back and lowered her staff, her eyes still almost challenging me to attack again. "You...wouldn't understand if I told you what I want and it's too much work to explain it. Nevertheless, you will do exactly as I ask or the lich will die by my hands."

How had things come to this? Why did every little problem stand before me like an unscalable cliff?

The fight in me already beaten into a corner, I numbly asked, "What do you want?"

She looked away from me back to my unconscious twin and finally pushed her spectacles back into place. "Y-you are going to help m-me get something. I don't...um...w-want to kill her, but I c-can't let you...f-fail in this. The only way to s-save Delilah is...f-for you to live," she finished, her eyes now inexplicably soft and gentle.

My mouth dropped open as I gave the only response I could manage, "Huh?"

-

After the ritual had ravaged me more thoroughly than a dragon's sexual rampage might, I must have fallen asleep. I think the nightmares were the biggest hint.

"You said he'd only be a asleep for an hour or two. This is ridiculous! Zales will be here long before we all get a turn!" I heard a young voice protest somewhere above me.  
"Without me, you'd still be staring at clam down there, so spare me the bitching. He was so close to becoming a succubus that he almost died from the shock of the change back," I heard Mira's voice assert without a hint of her earlier shyness.  
"Maybe _someone_ should have told him to not to fuck demons as a human girl! I should-oh! He's waking up!" I heard the younger voice exclaim as I began to stir.

I expected to be in excruciating pain when I tried to move. To my surprise, however, I felt so good that I thought the whole ritual might just have been another of the nightmares that I'd dreamed up. I also felt different in a way I couldn't quite explain.

Sitting up, I looked down at my still-naked body to observe with a small measure of guilty disappointment that I had been turned back to normal. "I guess that's it then," I sighed as I saw Mira jump back in sudden surprise at my statement, turning away as she quickly donned and straightened her glasses while the harpy with whom she'd been arguing hopped about excitedly. For a moment there, the little witch had looked almost like an entirely different person without her glasses.

"I hope you're ready for the rape. Oooh, we are going to tear you up good for making us wait!" she happily predicted as she poked at me with her wing, the feathers tickling my nose and then running down my chest.  
" _So_ sorry to inconvenience you all, really. I should have been more considerate about your feelings, right?" I sarcastically commented, throwing in the addendum, "Where's the other me?"

Bashfully attempting to hide her entire body behind her own staff, Mira was kind enough to answer my question in the most useless way possible. "I sent him...somewhere that he might be able to find a cure for his condition."

That seemed _unlikely_ to say the least.

"You mean you found a way to turn him back to human?" I asked, already doubtful of the potential answer.  
"Oh, n-no...um. That's-I mean...he won't ever turn b-back to...um...human," Mira stammered.  
Not willing to wait for her maddening nervousness to fill in the rest, I took a shot at guessing the rest. "So you sent him to find a cure to the whole 'losing himself' and the 'dying' stuff, right?"  
"Y-yes," she said simply, a lingering smile convincing me that wasn't the whole story, but saying enough that I could go back to worrying about my own situation instead.

Right. Now that I'd been turned back to normal, I had a job to do. It was just sex, right? Well...the job certainly wasn't going to do itself.

Waving off the teasing feathers of the harpy, I spoke in a resigned tone, "I can only assume that Meryl and Zee aren't here yet."

Just saying their names managed to reawaken a desire for female flesh that, for a least a while since my last sexual encounter, had turned into a need for something else entirely. That thought at once scared and aroused me. At least Meryl was certainly going to be pleased. I made a mental note not to let her down...or to at least aim for quantity if quality failed me.

"T-that's right. I'm...first, though." Mira protested at the harpy's increasingly forward touches.  
"Whatever! You have an hour before we break down the door, so you'd better finish before then!" the harpy pouted as she left the room.

"You sure about this?" I asked the extremely bashful witch as she looked as likely to vanish into her outfit as to make a move on me.  
"J-just lay down on the...b-bed there," she timidly requested.

As I did so, I felt a cool shiver pass over me as invisible restraints drew my arms and legs apart, holding me down in a spread-eagled position. An experimental tug revealed that they were as unyielding as steel. Now doubting my choice, I was suddenly feeling far more vulnerable than I'd expected with the shy witch now looking me over curiously.

"Y-you can't move...right?" she asked, taking a step toward me as she peeked out from under her hat to see my growing unbidden arousal.  
"No...what are you planning to do? You probably don't need to tie me down. You could just-" I began before a rapid change in Mira's features warned me that holding my tongue was the correct choice.

Pulling her glasses down slightly, Mira's personality changed drastically as she stared at me over the dark steel frames. "You were going to make a suggestion? You and I both know very well that what I _could_ do is whatever I want. No, we're going to play a game, Joseph."

"You...seem a bit different with your glasses off, Mira," I nervously remarked, lost for anything more profound.  
The witch smiled at me, touching herself on the tip of the nose as though I'd guessed some great secret. "Hekate often made me wear them to control my...impulses. So, about our game. You're going to make two guesses as to what I'm going to do to you, and if you're right...that's _all_ I'll do. Every incorrect guess will be piled on top of what I already have planned. Since you aren't a complete idiot, I'll warn you now that if your guess truly upsets me…"

She let her statement trail off as she removed her oversized hat and began fishing around in it like a stage magician that had lost his rabbit. After several seconds, her eyes lit up and she pulled a cat-o'-nine tails from the inscrutable depths of her headwear.

"How do I know you'll be honest if I even guess it?" I attempted, almost laughing at myself for having the nerve to ask such a question in my position.  
"You don't," she easily answered as she tossed her hat onto the bed next to me. "Consider this, Joseph. Did you know that most of the lords never lie?"  
"Wait! You're a-"  
"Don't be silly," she cut me off with a wave. "What I mean is that there is no reason to lie to a being that is beneath you. Would you lie to a pet? If you cared about their feelings, you might. So then, would I truly have any reason to lie to you? Make your guesses."

Well, the mind fuck was certainly new. I was quite literally screwed no matter what I chose here. Anything that was too tame would probably get me whipped or worse, and I'd have to endure any guess that was hardcore enough to meet her standards.

But then, perhaps I was going about it all the wrong way. There were extreme guesses that wouldn't have me walking funny for weeks, weren't there? I decided to venture my first guess, albeit with an implied contractual rider she probably wasn't expecting.

"Make me your husband, Mira."  
"Not even clo-what?!" she balked, stumbling back a step and (perhaps subconsciously) straightening her glasses. "W-what are you...t-talking about?!"

Some part of me felt like this was a victory even while an itch at the back of my skull warned me about continuing down this path. I took my daring second guess while the witch was still reeling from the first.

"No? Then...have me father your children, Mira."

That time she turned beet red, stumbling back even further as she hid her face in her hands. "H-how could you even s-say that?!"

Her look of embarrassment changed to one of anger over several moments, the familiar warning itch suddenly becoming one of an uneasy validation. Pulling her glasses down a bit, her anger seemed to intensify as she stepped toward me as powerfully as her short legs would allow.

"You think you're just sooo smart, don't you Joe? I should force you to make good on those! I should-" she suddenly stopped, and cursed under her breath. "Your friends are here, but I'm still going to make you suffer through what I really had planned for you," she declared threateningly.

As she moved close to me, she brought her weapon-wielding hand down right near my face, causing me to close my eyes on instinct and keeping them closed as Mira's small hand followed to cover them, resting on my eyelids. The expected impact of the leather implement never came as I suddenly felt a small set of lips lay softly upon my own. The warm kiss lingered for nearly a minute during which the only other touch upon me was Mira's other hand affectionately gently resting on the side of my face.

Finally pulling away from me, I could have sworn I saw tears in the dangerously young-looking eyes of the witch as she grabbed her hat and stepped across the room. "I...n-need to go"

"What's your deal, woman? All you were going to do was kiss me?" I asked incredulously as my restraints vanished.  
"I...um...can't tell you. It will...all work out in the end," she answered softly as she made to leave the cell.  
"Please...don't hurt Meryl or Zee," I nearly pleaded.  
"I...d-don't have to listen to you," she began before sighing and adding, "But...um...I won't even be here."

Saying those final words, Mira made a gesture with her staff as a corresponding sound of the cell door's bolt releasing echoed through the room. The witch then turned back to me one final time before stepping into a magically-conjured portal into a room dominated by six massive crystals, one of them prominently stained black.

"Until next time…"


	22. Chapter 22 - Gone But Not Forgotten

Chapter 22 - Gone But Not Forgotten

A voice, all calculating wisdom and restrained desire, materialized from the ether. "He's acquired a rather potent defender. Be careful and remain in contact with the talisman at all times."

Moments later in response, breaking the placid surface of magically shared thought, a force of pride and an unslaked thirst for vengeance answered, "I've left more 'potent defenders' for the crows than Amarante's entire pathetic excuse for an army. His fucking legion-class necromancer is out of the way and this so-called defender isn't even here yet."

Wisdom chastised, "Do not underestimate the-"

Pride would not be stirred or interrupted and reasserted dominance. "Even if Kaori only had a single mine still running at capacity, I can promise that if you ever take a tone like that with me again, I'll see you there in chains and whipped to death mining coal for the Corpse Throne. Am I clear?"

Colors and impressions abounded in the shared mindspace before the color of Wisdom answered back as subservient fear, "Y-yes. I understand, General Hildegarde."

Satisfaction buoyed the thoughts of Pride. "Good, we should be at the meeting place in a week with the prize. I can already smell his whore's stench. This shouldn't take more than a minute."

The former Kaori general withdrew from her mental contact with the distant witch and turned to the new companion to which she now deffered, only the second woman to best her in combat, and the first to do so without conjuring a deathless dragon and a hole into utter oblivion itself.

"Are you ready, my lord?" Hildegarde asked, far more subdued with her masked companion than she had been with the witch or anyone else outside of Kaori's inner circle.

The slender, masked woman simply nodded as the pair of them advanced on the old guard tower.

-Elsewhere-

I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that my captors let me go once they had the real prize in hand...the real _me_. After that disturbingly pleasing bonding session of ours, I wanted to argue for his release as well. The looks offered before I'd even fully asked the question were all the answer I needed. Despite an unmatched kinship, I had more pressing matters to which I needed to attend.

There wasn't enough time to risk going home, and calming Risa down enough to understand the situation probably just meant she'd want to break her foot off in my ass. That still seemed preferable to the other task I'd been handed. I wanted to see her and my girls as badly as when I'd set off after Lorelei. Just like that time, it felt too much like I might not come back from this journey. Had I ever come back at all, really?

I still have no idea how the hell that witch knew so much or why she seemed to care about me even after stealing my wife. Fighting the rage back was the hardest part, that burden exacerbated by the fact that each time I got angry, my inner voice grew stronger while my body changed more and more to suit that feminine persona. As some sort of twisted futanari Incredible Hulk, I was forced by necessity to keep myself calm at the risk of losing my mind, along with any hope of seeing my family again, forever.

After the first few days it started to get a bit easier. Perhaps the largest salve to my confused anger was the fact that my wings had finally developed enough to pull me through the air. I knew they weren't large enough to physically carry me, meaning that I had to be channeling magic, rapidly reducing the time I'd be able to stay awake...or stay myself. The amount of time I shaved off the journey by cutting straight across the mountains made the sacrifice worth it, I forced myself to believe.

However...despite my obvious horns, wings, and tail, I was still accosted by mamono nearly every time I landed to preserve my energy. Needing to turn down so many...aggressive offers turned out to be the blessed, ego-boosting assurance I needed that I still at least _looked_ like a man, despite what the conflicting thoughts and emotions within me kept trying to argue.

Regardless of my desires to the contrary, and with a potency that continued to escalate, it felt as though my body was automatically channeling demonic energy for my own protection when needed. During at least two of my encounters, my would-be rapists simply fell into spontaneous masturbation just from looking at me. With my body more than happy to spend the small amount of essence I'd gotten from...myself, the pitiful amount of sand left in my hourglass fell inexorably into oblivion.

Not unlike when I'd been completely blind, I found myself stumbling toward the pinpoint of light that was my small remaining hope. The witch must have made the suggestion for a reason, but nothing I'd learned about magic gave any solid clues. Was it just that only a lord could save me? Or was it something that only _this_ lord could do?

I could only pray that the Lord Elizabeth truly had an answer...and that she'd be willing to part with it.

-

After the baffling encounter with Mira and her subsequent vanishing act, I almost immediately heard the sounds of a conflict in the tower above me. I'd only gotten a glimpse of the skills my captors truly possessed, but I couldn't imagine a scenario in which Zee could be beaten. It wasn't that I thought she was invincible, it was more that I hadn't yet come upon any idea of my own that could see her defeated.

That prediction seemed to bear out as the shouts of pain that echoed through the narrow hallway were those of the girls that had been holding me here. Those shouts carried a worrying edge of desperation that got me thinking about Zee. Would the salamander actually harm these girls for the sake of our contract? Was I even okay with that?

Several dozen interminable minutes passed as the sounds of combat dwindled. The walls of the tower and my cell were not quite kind enough to properly relate the echoey, resounding shouts while retaining any similarity to the initial voice, leaving me in suspense as to what was transpiring above.

After the loud report of what could only be a shattering bone, followed immediately by a shriek of pain, everything was quiet for a patience-testingly handful of minutes. I took that opportunity to fashion some makeshift clothing from female pieces that still fit and the coarse sheet from the bed. There likely wouldn't be any fashion awards in my future...but maybe I'd just need to own the look hard enough to kick off a rush on robes made from ratty bed sheets.

Leaning against my cell door, I found it unlocked and took the opportunity to ascend the stairs back to the larger central chamber. I moved quickly, fully expecting a scene to materialize at the top of the stairs of a triumphant fox and salamander with outstretched arms to catch me.

Shattering that hope, the image before me was far more grim.

With another loud snap like the cracking of bone, I saw a massive woman break off Liuli's remaining horn and toss the badly beaten oni aside like a piece of trash. Only slightly smaller in stature than the conjured dragon I'd recently met, this woman had pink, pig-like ears and an (admittedly cute) curly tail that both ran in stark contrast to the countless scars, monolithic build, and cruel visage that made up the rest of her appearance.

As she turned to look at me, the look thrown my way may as well have been oil on canvas, an artist's depiction of my body being raped and broken beneath her.

"No, I won't do it," the orc said with a slow shake of her head as she stared me down. "I'm supposed to bring you back uninjured, but now that I'm seeing that face...I _know_ that isn't going to happen. Get on your knees now and I won't break any bones, human."

It wasn't a request and I was strongly tempted to obey the unknown woman's command immediately. Roughly ninety degrees around the edge of the tower from me was the exit, and despite this new player being far more frighteningly imposing than Azalea's friends, I'd take my chances running than being a captive again.

Slightly closer to the exit than me, however, was the second of these two woman. The smaller of the two was tall and slender, covered in concealing armor and clothing that made her identity otherwise impossible to determine. Acting as the only potential hint was a long tail, not unlike Azalea's hanging calm behind her. She carried several weapons, the most obvious among them being a pair of matched scimitars that hung naked from her belt.

Catching the movement of my eyes, the orc took a step toward me and leered down at me. "It's been a while, whore. Do you have any idea what I've had to go through because of you and your lich owner?"

There probably wasn't a right answer to that question. The countless possibilities for wrong answers, however, nearly made me laugh. I opted to try the truth and see how that might work out. Meryl and Zee were still on their way here, I hoped, and trying to draw things out made it more likely that I'd make it out of this alive.

I lowered my gaze to the floor and spoke softly, "That wasn't me. I...just happen to look exactly like someone that's been causing trouble all over the island."

Picking up and shouldering a massive axe, the orc flashed a cruel grin. "I want to believe you. Do you know why?"

It wasn't a question I was supposed to answer. I remained silent as she continued.

"Because I watched you die. I ran a blade straight through you and watched as you dissolved into mist. No human could survive that, and yet here you are," she said, pausing as if to wait for an answer.

"R-right. So then it couldn't be me. I've never even seen-"

That was apparently one of the wrong answers.

Without warning, stomped the ground hard enough to nearly shake me from my feet as her smile vanished into a look of unabashed hatred. "You little shit! You think I'd miss that fucking scar on your face?! You want me to tear your face off and show it to you?!" the orc yelled as her slow, thunderous footsteps started bringing her closer to me.

A subtle clearing of the throat from the other woman in the room likely saved my life as the orc came to a dead stop, just out of reach of her powerful arms.

Nodding once, the orc dropped her axe to the ground and scowled. "You think you've just been spared, don't you? Oh no, little man. Did you think that I'd let enemies of the corpse throne escape? No...we'll be dragging you back to Kaori along with your friends and family-anyone that even knows your name. And then, just when you start wishing that I'd crushed your fucking skull is when the real pain is going to start. Let's move-and if I hear so much as a single word out of you, I'll rip out your tongue."

Seeing my glances toward the tower exit, the orc actually smiled and continued, "You looking for someone, whore? The witch doesn't normally exaggerate so I thought I might actually get a decent fight out of this bodyguard of yours before I tore her arms off."

Utterly dumbstruck, my thoughts weren't doing much better as I tried to think of a way out of a promised fate that was making me pine for the short simplicity of an executioner's blade.

Another grim scene stood before me as I was given another measure of shame at being helpless to do anything about it. It wasn't surprising, really. My entire life had just been one disappointment after another, my trip to another world only so kind as to become a comically exaggerated mirror of my life before.

Fuck it. I wasn't going to let them drag me somewhere just so I could be tortured to death. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. If they wanted me dead, I was going to make sure it was here and now.

I looked toward Fizzli's large metal cudgel on the ground and then back at the orc.

"Is our little man about to grow a spine here?" the orc taunted.

"Fuck you, bacon bits." Faking to the large club to my left, I turned on my heel and made a dash toward the tower exit.

My movement hadn't even registered with the orc, either because she was too slow to react or because she simply didn't care. Answering that quandary with the latter, she made several quick steps toward me and drove the broad side of her axe into my chest, throwing me off my feet and into a painful impact with the tower wall, well away from the exit.

"I like a man with fight in him almost as much as I love seeing that moment when that same man breaks and begs for a death that won't save him," the orc taunted as she grabbed a handful of my still-long hair and dragged me to my feet, pushing me back toward the center of the room.

Grabbing at my chest while I tried to catch my wind, I tried to buy even a few more seconds, choking my insulting words out in desperation. "That hurt...almost as bad as the last...pork shit I took." I got to my feet and continued, "If my bodyguard was here...I'd be taking another one of those shits tonight, swine."

Seeing my effort rewarded with a cruel smile, rather than the blind rage for which I'd been hoping, the orc shook her head and started advancing again, each step running cold up my spine with escalating terror.

"Bodyguard, you said? I'm your huckleberry," the most pleasant voice I could imagine called out as I saw Azalea's form silhouetted in the entryway, the oppressive light from outside spilling around her as if to herald the entrance of an archangel.

Of my assailants, the shrouded woman didn't react any more than to look in Zee's direction as the salamander advanced upon the orc with her falchion held ready in her large left hand. The splint on Zee's right hand, however, meant that she'd be at a disadvantage here.

"Zee, I'm sorry," I blurted out, not able to meet my large companion's gaze at the thought of the ordeal she'd been through.

Flashing a confident smile, Zee answered, "It wasn't your fault, but if you want to make me feel better, just make good on our wager. Now stand back so I can-wait, you're...General Hildegarde of the Red Plains!" Zee finished with a look of stunned surprise.

Turning her smile toward the advancing salamander, Hildegarde frowned. "Damn the fucking double-edged sword of fame. I guess you're going to try to run now?"

"Run?" Azalea chortled. "Wait. Oh, you were serious? No, you killed my cousin in the Grand Blood tourney, three tournaments back."

Throwing her axe back over her shoulder, Hildegarde snorted derisively. "Was she the one that begged me to stop, or the one I cut in half like an overripe prisoner fruit?" The orc the looked over her shoulder to her companion and received a small nod. "I'm already bored with this. Well, lizard, your vengeance is standing right here. Come try to take it so I can rip you apart along with the rest of your family once I'm done executing this human."

Azalea stretched a bit, never losing her confident smile. "I don't care about vengeance-she never should have entered that tournament in the first place. I've just wanted to fight you since I saw that match." Looking up for a moment, Zee paused before continuing, "As for my family…"

I watched as Zee took a deep breath and lowered herself into a wide, unfamiliar stance. Her tail snaked out behind her, the weak smouldering not appearing to change, as she looked around, looking as though she was taking in every inch of the scene.

Finally resting her calm gaze back upon the orc, Azalea continued proudly, "I am Azalea, formerly of the Ashtail Legion, daughter of Kadira and Rodrigo, sister of Dahlia, Hibiscus, and Ixora. You can worry about my family if you survive me."

"Hmph," Hildegarde began, "Well, I'm ready whenever you-"

Before the orc had even finished speaking, Zee leapt into the air towards the orc. The maneuver looked unbelievably risky, leaving the salamander unable to even attempt to avoid any incoming attacks with her feet off the ground. Zee made a full spin in the air, her posture suggesting she was going to unleash a powerful downward slash with the added momentum of her spin behind it.

The orc saw it too and was already poised to counter from a much stronger position with her massive axe. As Hildegarde's powerful arms flexed to swing her axe, she flinched in pain, losing a half-second to the distraction.

While she'd spun through the air, Zee had somehow thrown a dagger as the orc, grazing the Kaori-born warrior on her right side. When the axe cut through the air, Zee avoided the blade and caught the shaft in two places with her feet and allowed herself to be thrown across the room by the earth-shaking power of the swing.

Impacting with the tower wall with more force than should have been possible, Zee then hit the ground and was a bit slow getting to her feet.

About to call out to Zee, I felt a hand cover my mouth. Starting, I tried to pull free before I heard Meryl's voice whisper in my ear, "She'll be fine, but they're after you. Let's go."

The vixen didn't even wait for my response before she quietly began dragging me back towards the stairs. I could only assume there had to be another entrance, and despite wanting to know that Zee would be okay, I also knew I'd just be in the salamander's way at best, or a liability at worst.

"Don't know where you managed to hide a dagger, but that won't happen again," the orc boasted as she straightened herself.

"It was two, actually," Zee offered as she shook herself out of the daze of hitting the wall. "And that was all I needed, this is over."

As Hildegarde opened her mouth to retort, she looked down and saw a second dagger embedded in the shaft of her large battle axe, where it had neatly severed the pinkie finger of the orc's left hand.

Zee then seemed to dance forward, unleashing a straight thrust that the orc barely deflected by using her axe-head like a shield. With her blade deflected, Zee took a large step forward and dragged the blade with her in an attempt to rush past the orc, turning her thrust into a slash.

The orc countered by throwing a shoulder into Zee's guard, followed by a clearing swipe of her axe. Zee dove under the slash, the axe blade nicking her skull as she managed a shallow cut on the orc's hip in exchange.

Her dive turning into a roll, Zee came to her feet and immediately leapt into a backwards moonsault over the follow-up swing, scoring a cut on Hildegarde's forearm and a solid tail impact to the orc's face.

Still slightly off-balance from the acrobatic maneuver, Zee could do nothing but attempt to block the great swing that came next. As steel rang against steel, Azalea was driven to the ground, her knee hitting stone, before she was able to turn her blade to deflect the rest of the force of the attack.

Releasing the grip on her falchion before the downward axe stroke had even completed, Azalea reached up to the axe handle with her left hand and used it for leverage to throw a wicked kick at the orc's face. The orc lowered her head and managed to deaden most of the impact with the hardest part of her skull, but the impact still had her reeling.

Moving early hadn't come without cost, however, as Zee's thigh began to quickly swell where the remainder of the last swing's power had impacted. While the orc stumbled back, my bodyguard fell to a knee, her hand shooting out toward the orc even as she exhaled in a hiss of pain.

Looking closely, I could see Azalea seeming to mumble something under her breath as she absentmindedly reached back to grab her falchion.

"Fucking bitch, I will _end_ you!" the orc screamed out as her hands now had a matching set of missing pinkie fingers.

As the orc stepped forward to bring down another swing, Zee was already moving, her falchion arcing through the air to impact the axe before the swing could gain any real momentum. All but two people in the room then watched in surprise as the large axe was knocked clean from the orc's hands, Zee's follow-up being a roll to the side where she picked up the axe and hurled it through the tower entryway.

"End your chances of being a pianist, more like," Azalea answered with a smirk as she picked her falchion back up and stood upon shaky legs to stare down the former Kaori general.

With a howl of rage, the orc took two charging steps forward before an unfamiliar voice rang out across the chamber, sounding distorted and metallic through the concealing helm from which it shot forth.

"Enough. We will withdraw for now."

Sliding to a stop, the orc general looked feminine for the first time as she shot back in protest, "But my lord! You promised I could-"

The shrouded figure simply placed a hand on one of her weapons and the formerly perky, pink ears of the orc drooped in immediate disappointment.

"Yes, my lord," the orc acquiesced immediately, turning back to Zee to shout, "This isn't over!"

Already walking toward us as the pair of invaders left the tower, Azalea answered over her shoulder, "For your sake, you should probably hope it is. I might not be fighting with my off-hand next time, but I certainly welcome the challenge."

As the two enemies finally disappeared, Zee nearly fell to her knees, breathing a massive sigh of relief. "Mother of Charisse, that bitch was strong. She patched up that hole in her swing too."

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly, seeing that the cut on Zee's forehead was starting to bleed profusely.

"I'll be fine," she answered, tearing off a piece of my sleeve and holding it to the gash on her head. "Looks like you're back to normal. Want me to stop calling you Ari, now?"

Meryl took the opportunity of my distraction to unhesitatingly reach down my pants in a probing fashion.

"Yeah, you can-what the-!? What are you doing, Meryl?!" I called out defensively as I tried to squirm loose.

Blushing a bit before shaking her head, Meryl smiled and kissed me on the cheek. "Can you blame me? With my luck I figured you'd end up castrated or worse."

Starting to shake as the tension and adrenaline of the moment started to fade, I quipped, "Yeah, I think I'm done worry about defending myself from sexual predators. Especially if I'm going to be keeping one of them around."

Smirking for a moment before actually giving me a barely-less-than-playful bite on the neck, Meryl then threw her arms around me. "I'm going to let that one go for now, and only because it's true."

Grunting in pain as she got back to her feet, Azalea chimed in, "So...I've got to ask. How did you manage to get a Kaori general on your ass?"

"Fuck if I know. Probably something the other me did, though from what I gathered, it had something to do with Delilah," I answered, my voice muffled by Meryl's shoulder as I was kept held in the vixen's arms.

Still intent to keep me in her embrace, Meryl turned to Zee and answered, "I don't know the whole story, but Joe tried to rescue Del's daughter from somewhere deep in Kaori. After that conflict with the corrupted gnome and Kaori being missing for at least a year, the place was already on the brink of civil war."

Zee nodded and continued to listen while Meryl continued.

"So Del about lost it when Joe left and she tore through Kaori like some kind of undead hurricane. I guess since their military had been spread so thin taking care of conflicts all over the region, they couldn't pull together a force large or disciplined enough to try to stop her. Too many of the local warlords deliberately withheld soldiers in preparation for the civil war they knew was coming. Anyway, that orc bitch managed to pull together a few companies of slavers and her personal unit of military regulars to stop Del."

Zee raised a hand to stop Meryl. "Wait, slavers I can see, but how could a single necromancer manage to take down an entire general's company?"

Meryl finally released her grip on me and took a step back, shaking her head. "I have no idea. Del wouldn't say, and Joe acted like he didn't want to remember. All I know for sure is that the lich is scary. Speaking of which, we should probably get moving before she-"

I cut Meryl off with a frown. "Delilah is gone. I don't know exactly how, but that witch, Mira, managed to capture her or send her away."

"You've got to be shitting me. I can't imagine she'd-oh no...I need to get to Alnor," Meryl replied, her expression falling.

I sighed and added, "That orc might just have been trying to be more scary but she said that they were going to kill everyone important to me...friends, family, and anyone that knew me. If you want to go to check on your sister, I'm with you. What about you Zee?"

Trying to rub her swollen thigh, Azalea stopped to give me a small shove. "I'm your bodyguard. And before Meryl finds some reason to tell you first, I like you. Let me just make sure my girls are okay and we can go."

"We're fine Zales, just go," the badly beaten harpy suddenly shouted as she sat up, her blood-matted feathers saying something entirely different. "Yeah, she beat our asses good...if Joe hadn't come up when he did, she might have done a whole lot more, but we'll be okay. Sara should be stopping by in the next couple days."

"She's right," added the even more haggard sounding voice of the slowly rising Liuli from across the room. "Sara's been worried about us ever since-"

"Shut up blueberry! We can take care of ourselves anyway," the goblin added, also sounding fully conscious and struggling to bring herself to a sitting position. "That's the first time we've seen you fight like that since...you know."

Zee shook her head. "I know you girls are worried about me, but there's nothing wrong with me."

That was bullshit, and everyone in the room knew it. Despite that, I felt like the salamander was far from a lost cause. I almost felt guilty having gotten such a deal on a bodyguard of her ability. On the other hand, I had to be alive to worry about having underpaid someone, so my worry wasn't moving the scale all that much.

"We also wanted to tell you that we're...going back to the Legion. There have been rumors all over about isolated villages populated solely by humans-mostly men," Liuli said with a slight blush. "It's our home and we wanted you to come back with us. Some of the rumors even say that some of these men might be serious warriors!"

Zee smiled cryptically and shook her head again. "I'll always think of you as family, but...I can never come back to the Ashtails, girls."

Nearly pouting, the harpy jumped to her feet, only to fall back onto her tush with a wince of pain. "You're wrong, Zales. You never left in the first place, and we'll just be waiting for you to remember that."

Azalea gave a wry smile and walked over to pull the young harpy into a hug, stepping back afterwards to give her a gentle rap on the head. "That's the free hit I owe you. And don't worry, this silly man here has already found me a couple of the best warriors I've fought in a long time. Once we get his mess all sorted out, I'll come visit. Hopefully the war will be over by then and Charisse will either be buried or sane again."

The emotional dam in the room was nearly at capacity as the three girls all looked to be on the verge of tears. Meryl gestured toward the entrance and started heading out. With a nod toward Zee, I followed her.

"We'll be outside, Zee. Take as much time as you need," I offered.

For several minutes Meryl and I waited in silence, standing in the shade of the small tower, protected from a sun that almost seemed angry at all that had the gall to stand beneath it.

"One thing I still hate about being anywhere near the desert is all this dust." Azalea finally emerged from the tower entryway, wiping a large quantity of that "dust" from her eyes. "Let's move."


	23. Chapter 23 - Drawing in the Corners

Chapter 23 - Drawing in the Corners

"It's impressive that the binding isn't holding you completely, but do you seriously think you can stop me in that state, lich? I've a contingency in place for any action you could hope to take."

Bleeding through the darkened crystal prison as a pale spectre, Delilah hovered, ethereal, before the witch that had caught her. "As yet, I have not considered the potential eventuality that would lead to a direct conflict between the two of us. Having seen the construction of this room and the associated runic forms, however, I find myself curious as to the point of what will become little more than a charade."

The witch tossed her spectacles into her hat before pulling the wide-brimmed piece of millinery down over her eyes. "This is your fault and I would be more than happy to see you suffer for it...but there is something I need far more, now. It's not as if you could ever hope to escape from this place on your own, anyway."

Delilah's shadowy form simply flickered as the ancient undead observed the position of the many runes that surrounded each of the large crystals within this painstakingly-hewn cavern. "You are wrong on every count. This rune pattern borrows heavily from Durand's Runic Lexicon and my phylactery far surpasses anything of which Durand conceived while she was alive.

You also cannot wish my destruction or you would have already unbound my soul. Further, the markings on your attire suggest that my second birth would see us as cousins under the flames of Asmodeus. To that end, I cannot see you risking even the possibility of your mistress's wrath, so I also find it unlikely that you wish to see me suffer in any capacity.

In addition, if there is any blame to be had in this, it must fall upon you or the one I can only assume is your sister. You must be aware of this or you wouldn't have sent my husband's memories to-"

"Enough!" the witch screamed out, interrupting Delilah's long-winded explanation. "Not everyone behaves based on logic! Regardless of the cost, my prize will not be kept from me. Everything has already been set in motion and there is nothing you can do to stop it."

Silent a moment in a contemplative reverie, Delilah finally answered as her form wavered slightly. "You, however, _do_ behave based upon logic. The very existence of a 'plan' demands the truth of that fact. Further, I have already deduced the remainder of this...plan."

Still fuming at the emotionless undead, the witch stamped her foot on the cavern floor as her anger continued to grow. "You are _lying_! I'm not afraid of you, lich, and even if I was, it wouldn't stop me from doing this. If you hadn't mentioned that ritual...if you hadn't-"

Her eyes glowing more brightly in her spectral form, Delilah interrupted the witch. "I see...then your mistress has perished. That is unfortunate as it leaves a great unpaid debt that will likely be impossible to settle."

"Shut up! You have no idea what it's like to-" the witch screamed in response, stopping herself when Delilah's violet eyes took on an as yet unseen fierceness.

"Do not insult me with your misplaced anger. You are but a child. I labored under the weight of loneliness and despair for millennia before your mistress's grandparents had even entertained the notion of children. If I wished to end this overwrought charade, I would have already done so," Delilah stated evenly, her voice powerful.

Hiding her face beneath the brim of her large hat again, the witch mumbled back in response, "Then why…?"

The fierce violet eyes calmed as Delilah's distant voice grew quieter. "It was not lost upon me that there would be a cost to bear that was far beyond what I had planned. Despite my demand that the ritual be invoked, I failed to account for my husband's dangerous curiosity in truly determining the use for the blessing.

Until seeing this place, I was not aware of the depth of your designs. I can now see that if your plan were to succeed, at the least in saving my husband, I would owe you a debt for which I would be obligated to provide recompense. I must tell you, then, that there is a fatal flaw in this."

Stricken almost completely dumb by the ponderous authority with which the necromancer spoke, the witch numbly answered, "What flaw?"

"He will not make the choice you need him to make to undo this sin."

"If he won't..then...it will end all of you."

"Then it will end."

-

After a solid day of ruminating over the possible scenarios that had me being hunted by that pair of warriors, the remaining bounty was the only thing that came to mind. Or at least it would have been if the orc hadn't mentioned the witch as well as something about enemies of the corpse throne.

Just what the hell had I done on the island already to warrant this barrage of non-stop misfortune?

Speaking of which…

"That's it!" Meryl shouted the moment we made camp. "I've chased you across half the fucking island, to your probably deserved execution, and into an actual devil's nightmare. I don't care what excuses you have left, but I swear to Amarante herself...if you try to turn me down again, Joe...I'm going to-"

She was trying to be angry. I'm certainly not the most insightful person, but it was patently obvious that she was closer to crying than any other emotional outburst-save the shouting she was already forcing. Despite every single one of fate's attempts to kick all the fight out of me, that sentiment cut through everything else. Her play at anger was to hide a much more fragile center than she wanted to show.

Meryl had risked her life for me more times than I could even remember, had stayed with me while I was trapped in a woman's body, even when she knew she wasn't going to get what she claimed to want the most, and had probably lost even more that she was yet hiding. Looking into those beautiful green irises of hers, worn and weary as they tried to hide the perils with which her mind continued to wrangle, I just _knew_ in that protracted moment that she'd follow me to the ends of the earth if I asked. The thought hit me in the chest like a burst of comforting warmth, spreading across me and within me, making my heart flutter for the barest of an instant.

I took the opportunity to level a serious look at Meryl. "I'm not going to run or push you away. If you just wanted a man, there are probably plenty that could have been gotten far easier than me. So, Meryl...I'm standing right here. Now what?"

"And I'll...be standing over there," Zee added helpfully as she moved to the perimeter of the camp.

Suddenly flustered, her eyes now showing some actual anger, she opened her mouth to speak and released only a worrying amount of silence.

Thinking I might have upset her, I stepped forward and spoke. "I...didn't mean it like that. Actually I'm not even really sure what I said that was wrong but I meant that I don't want to run. I'd want you by my side even if I wasn't being chased by bounty hunters, forgotten exes, and retainers to whatever the hell the corpse throne is. I wouldn't even blame you if you decided I was just too much trouble at this point…"

Her veneer splintered slightly as she stepped forward, her eyes downcast as she began to cry, her voice weak as she mumbled, "This is horrible, Joe. Everything's fucked up and it just keeps getting worse. I mean...you're standing right in front of me, but I'm afraid if I even try to reach out and touch you...this moment will fall apart. And you know the worst part of all this? Some day...I just know you're going to get your memory back and then you'll be gone for good."

She recoiled from my attempt to touch her so I simply answered as best I could, "I could choke on breakfast tomorrow, or fall on my sword while training, or have a fucking aneurism and kick it right here. If you want me, Meryl...then I'm yours. Even if I get my memory back, I'm not going to forget this."

Meryl's eyes went wide in a shocked disbelief as she took a step closer, "You don't know that! You've already lost all your memories once. And when you do end up with those memories again...I don't think I'd be able to handle knowing that you'll never feel about me the way you do about Del or my sister. I told you...I'm cursed and every time I try to fight fate, I just..."

I'd be damned if I was going to lose an argument with Meryl at this point. I couldn't deny that I must have had some extremely intense feelings for the two women from my last life to have married the pair and fathered children, but nothing of that remained in me now.

At least there was a way to make sure I'd never forget this moment.

Taking a deep breath, I took the dry desert air into my lungs with purpose, internalizing every aspect of the feeling that I could process-the slight pain in the back of my throat, the growing chill, and the barest taste of distant plant life. I then reached down and grabbed a handful of the loose sand at my feet and let my mind wander as the miniscule grains of quartz ran back to the ground.

The first song that came to mind in that pseudo meditative state would be the trigger. I said a few of the lyrics to myself quietly to make sure the thought would stick, "The war is on, too weak to move. Call it off, refused."

"Huh?" she asked, likely confused by my rambling.

Seeing her guard down, even as her eyes bored into me with a confused curiosity, I stepped forward.

She took a step back in response, breaking eye contact with me.

I took another step, larger and more determined as she stumbled a bit in trying to back up again.

"If I could love two women in the first place," I proclaimed as I continued to close the distance between us, "then what's stopping me from loving three, or four, or a fucking dozen?! I'm not going to compromise, I'm not going to bend, and after today...I'm not going to break. If you want to run now, then go. Just don't think for a second that it was fate that kept me from you. If you run now, it's _you_ keeping me from you."

If she knew what she was doing, then I'd have to applaud her acting. My feelings on her had gone from just over-tepid to scalding in the moment she started to retreat. Could it be so hard to resist the chase? Those were thoughts for a less passionate heart than mine.

"But...what if-" she whispered as she stopped moving.

In that moment I had a startling realization. It felt like I'd had a very similar realization twice before, despite only remembering one. Before I'd found myself on this island, when the world had made it blatantly obvious that I couldn't have what I wanted, I let it win and tried to kill myself. I was too weak then to consider that if I couldn't change myself to fit the world, that maybe the world was wrong. Maybe the whole time it wasn't me that needed to break, but the world.

Hunted or hunter, I saw my chance and I took it, making two quick strides and throwing my arms around the wavering fox-girl, not about to let her fear make the decision she didn't want to make in the first place.

"Fuck the 'what if'! God _damn_ , woman...just shut up," I said with a determined finality as I captured her lips in my own, my own body feeling like it would melt as her soft lips finally touched mine.

As we likewise stole the breath from each other, tentatively joined lips became cautiously exploring tongues; timidly shared breaths became presumptuously exploring hands.

No more words were said, even as everything was spoken.

-

Several emotionally charged hours later, I found myself wrapped in a coarse blanket against the painfully biting desert night, Meryl's luxuriantly soft and fluffy tail, along with her soundly sleeping body still pressed against me, redefining what I knew of warmth. Zee came by only once while I was still awake to give me an approving smile, tending to her bruises from earlier as she kept the night watch for us.

When morning finally arrived, it was far less pleasant than I expected as my fluffy-tailed companion seemed to have already left my embrace. Groggy and hungry, I saw the two of them arguing about something as I slowly started to come awake.

"Well, let's ask him then," Meryl chirped with a definite edge of frustration as she came over to me. "Zee wants to know if you're willing to follow her training plan, no matter how brutal it is. I want to _really_ stress the brutal part before you decide."

Never having been one for mornings but at least aware enough to know that I wanted her to teach me to fight, I nodded. "Yeah...sure. I'm sure I can probably handle it."

"Dumbass," Meryl spat, shaking her head as she hopped up onto the already-packed wagon.

"See?" Zee said with a smile as she practically sauntered over, leaning down to whisper in my ear, "Damn, Joe...didn't think you two were ever going to stop last night. And is there normally supposed to be that much crying?"

I sighed a bit, rubbing the sleep from my eyes under the predawn chill of the wide, sandy desert. "Well...Meryl's been going through a lot, you know?"

Chuckling softly, Zee clapped me on the shoulder. "I meant you, boss. Here, put this on," she suddenly added, offering me a durable-looking leather collar of some sort.

Thrown too off-balance to argue against the first of her statements, I took the hardened collar in my hands. "What's this?"

"Part of your training. If you're willing to do what I say, then put it on." Her tone wasn't leaving a lot of room for debate so I simply complied, assuming it was going to be some sort of mental breakdown tool.

Once I actually had it on, however, Zee quickly tied off a rope with the other end leading to...the wagon? Oh hell…

"You'll just need this and...this," Zee finished with a smile, tossing me an extremely heavy bag and a large hat. "We aren't stopping until noon at the earliest. Once we stop, you can either rest...or grab your weapons and come at me. I'm going to catch some sleep until then."

"Are you shitting me? I can barely even carry this fucking bag! What the hell's in it?!" I protested, suddenly far more cranky at the prospect of this training than I thought I would be.

"Rocks, mostly. If you can't handle it though…" Zee trailed off meaningfully.

Meryl simply snorted at what must have been my expected response. "Fuck you! I can handle it. Fine, let's go. I think I already know how to beat you, Zee...just you wait until noon."

"Already? Well, I can't wait to see what you've got then, Joe." With a smile she then hopped into the wagon as Meryl spurred the horse onward.

Any delusions I had about my jogging having been a suitable preparation for a forced expedition through the blazing heat of a sandy desert were shattered barely an hour after the sun had made itself manifest above the horizon.

Even with the horse taking it slow, I was forced to stay at a fast jog to even keep my footing. Far from being able to handle that pace, I found myself suffering the pain of being dragged for what felt like interminable miles as I desperately tried to regain my feet and continue. With the heat, the grueling pace, and the increasingly crushing weight on my back, I was already doubting that I had any chance of surviving an extended regimen under Zee's guidance.

When noon finally arrived, I made several wretched steps before hurling myself under the wagon to escape the blistering sun, my chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath. My first attempt to slake my blistering thirst resulted in me vomiting up nearly all of the water I'd just downed, a painful reminder that no matter how desperate I was, some things needed to be taken slow.

"Here," Meryl suddenly cut into my daze some unknown number of minutes later, handing me a bowl of brightly-colored red mush. "You know you don't have to do this, Joe."

I shook my head, still too exhausted to speak clearly as I shoveled the sweet red paste into my mouth, only then realizing that I'd never had breakfast. The only thing I noticed in the taste was a vague sweetness along with several other flavors I couldn't even begin to place.

Seemingly in the mood to talk and not at all put off by my utter exhaustion, Meryl continued, "I wasn't myself yesterday, but I'm glad you knocked some sense into me. Wait, 'knocked' isn't the right word at all, is it?" she suddenly added with a giggle. "Is it weird that I've been staring at your back while chasing you for so long that you knocked me off balance when you finally turned around?"

"Damn, Meryl...this is good. What is this?" I asked, feeling quite a bit more refreshed than I ever expected after only about a half-hour of rest. "Oh, and...well you were saying some of the same things I was thinking. It felt like if I let you run away, it was the same as running away myself. We...aren't all that different, you know."

Passing me a thoughtful look as I finished the bowl of rejuvenating mush, Meryl then gave me a tiny kiss on the cheek, rolling out from under the wagon and then leaning down to smile at me. "I'm a much better liar. And that stuff? Oh...this and that...it should all be fine. Tell me if you start feeling weird, though."

Reasonably certain I should have been saving my energy for the run that would be following our break, I nevertheless grabbed my weapons from the wagon and called out to the still-sleeping salamander. "Come on, Zee! Let's get this duel over with."

With a yawn and a stretch as she seemed to soak up the sun, Azalea hopped down from the wagon and pulled her falchion free from its sheath. "You're looking for a duel? I suppose I'm your huckleberry, Joe. I've got a question first."

"What's that?" I asked as I gave a salute and assumed my stance.

"Why did you wake me up?" she asked, her tone serious.

"Wasn't I supposed to beat you in a duel? How is that supposed to happen if you're sleeping?" I asked, not sure what she was getting at.

" _You_ said duel-not me. You just need to best me, and even with only one hand, you're at a huge disadvantage in a straight-up fight. If you'd attacked while I was asleep, you'd have given yourself quite a temporary advantage," she said as she made a showy spin of her blade.

Frowning at her words, I countered. "That seems a little dirty, and what if I had killed you?"

"That's a big 'if' but let's just make this easier for you going forward. Your goal is to draw blood from me-if you can take a single drop of my blood, then we'll say you've won. How's that?" She offered with a smile.

I shook my head in response and answered back. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone so arrogant. But whatever, I told you I already had an idea how to beat you. This just makes things easier."

"Oh, I didn't mean to come across as arrogant, Joe. Really. You're smart enough that you've at least got a handle on how I fight, right?" She asked as she began walking toward me.

I watched her closely and saw her lips moving slightly as though she was mumbling something under her breath again, just as she had when she'd fought the orc.

"You're using magic?" I offered, knowing that wasn't the answer, but curious to see how she'd react.

Zee grinned widely, appearing to somehow sense that my guess was intentional bullshit. "If it looks like magic then you've still got a long way to go, but I think you have a better guess than that."

The way I'd seen her fight so far had shown her to be supernaturally strong, easily surpassing what her body looked like it could handle. Beyond that and some well-trained agility however, it didn't seem like there was all that much to her, physically. She didn't even seem as quick as me, but she always managed to have her weapons and body exactly where they needed to be, right when they needed to be there.

Having seen that, I didn't want to consider what I thought she was _actually_ doing, because it meant she was somehow running the battle through her head as though it was some sort of complex equation. In my nightmare scenario, she'd be able to tell by my stance, the length of my weapons...even the development of my body, what combat options I could even take. Then, for her, it was a matter of making moves that closed off possibilities until there was nothing left but to act exactly as she planned.

"How many different things could I possibly do in this situation to attack you?" I suddenly asked.

She stopped and scratched her head a moment before answering, "Hell, I don't know. Probably a couple thousand at least. Among many other things, you're already leaning on your left leg...so you were going to go with a lunging thrust, overextend yourself, and after a quick disarm I was going to spank your ass again."

I wasn't sure about anything beyond the thrust (which I had been planning), but if I knew...couldn't I simply change it?

"You're smart enough not to look where you're going to strike, but you're too dumb to realize that you went too far the other direction and completely avoid looking at the point at which you're going to strike," she offered somewhat helpfully.

Well, that certainly settled it. I knew how to beat her. The only problem was that it wasn't going to be easy, and it certainly wasn't going to be today. I just needed to somehow throw in a factor that she couldn't (or wouldn't) predict.

With a slight brainstorm brewing, I began moving in a familiar footwork pattern that was about as random as I could make it, my weapons held directed at her face as she advanced.

"I knew you'd done some kind of fighting before. Your posture doesn't look at all like you could deliver any kind of killing strike, though. Some kind of sport, maybe?" she ventured with a smile, confirming that she already knew the answer.

Rather than answer, I took a stumbling step forward before falling into a sidewise roll that I intended to bring across her thigh as a slash as she moved to take advantage of my position. My feint half-worked as she'd taken a downward swing at where I would have been if I'd continued forward, but redirected her swing and allowed her momentum to propel her into a cartwheeling kick in my direction, my slash missing her completely.

I managed to get beneath her kick and the following tail as I came up in a defensive posture, throwing my pair of weapons together in an attempt to block her falchion as it came in for another strike.

"Nope," she suddenly said angrily, stopping her swing with some effort and dropping her blade before grabbing both weapons with a single claw and pulling them from my grip before I could even fully react. "If you try to block a weapon like mine, especially with a swing like the one I'd made, with weapons like yours...you're just going to get crushed or shatter your weapons. I just paid for them so I'd like to avoid breaking them already."

"Hold on!" I panted, "If you could have just pulled the weapons out of my hands in the first place, why even fuck around that long?" I asked, suddenly feeling offended-as though she'd just been playing with me.

She shook her head as she walked back over to the wagon to resheath my two blades. "I could have taken them one at a time, but it wasn't until you made that idiotic cross in that horrible attempt to block that I could get them both with one hand. If you give me a huge opening like that, I'm going to take it. And before you ask, taking them one at a time would have left me far too open for a potential counterstrike."

I frowned. "How exactly does that knowledge help me get any better? That exact situation will probably never come up again, and even if it does...you haven't told me what the right move is."

"And I won't. This was just to try and open your eyes a bit. From here on, I'm going to punish you when you make the wrong moves. Eventually you'll have to start making the right ones. Until then…" she trailed off with a smile before securing the collar around my neck and tossing me the heavy bag again. "You can't go wrong with more physical training!"

-  
-Elsewhere

"Give it up girlie! Just bring yourself and your girls out here and we can do this without anyone getting hurt," shouted the voice of a powerful green-scaled woman into the well-appointed Amarante foyer. "Sorry about your two friends, but they weren't on the list."

Nearly a dozen heavily armed warriors stood upon the marble floor of the entryway. The only place not occupied by the boots and talons of the hardened mercenaries was the spot upon which two broken bodies lay, hands still clasped in the timeless embrace of death.

To the soldiers arrayed in the foyer, the two bodies appeared as simply a handsome young boy and silver-haired zombie with few other distinguishing features. To the woman and young twins that the soldiers had been tasked with acquiring, however, the zombie was family-the boy possibly soon to have been as well.

The normally bright voice of the young mother echoed throughout the entire large home. "No, we can't do this without someone getting hurt."

Without any further warning, the room erupted into a hellscape beyond anything the soldiers had ever seen. The wind moved as blades across the skin and scale alike, the air was becoming little more than blistering inferno that flensed their bodies down to stark bone before their horrified eyes.

The commander of the mercenaries heard a torrent of screams as the room around her erupted in agony, her each and every subordinate vomiting bile and blood as their bodies twisted and blackened before her eyes in the malicious unnatural landscape.

Stumbling forward with a hand pressing hard into her own temple, the commander knew this was an illusion. Despite that knowledge and years of training to combat techniques exactly like the one she was facing, the commander struggled to maintain her sanity as she found the world around her becoming more and more painfully violent in the warped nightmarescape.

As the commander slowly centered her mind, biting back on the agonizing pain, and began to tear through the illusion, she caught sight of the likely perpetrator less than a meter before her. Playing up her disorientation, she stumbled a bit before lurching forward and getting her powerful claws around the neck of the startled danuki.

With a quick snap of her other arm, the mercenary captain brought the hilt of her sword brutally across the tanuki-girl's chin, knocking her unconscious. As the light faded from the desperate Risa's eyes, she reached back for her two girls, now just beyond her reach.

"Lords...why…?" the young Risa muttered weakly before slumping helpless into the arms of her assailant.

Shaking off the remains of the pain that the glamour had forced her mind to manufacture, the commander called out to her now utterly disorganized group. "Get the children and by the lords be gentle with them or you'll be wishing for death."

With little more than nods of agreement throughout the group, the quickly recovering team of mercenaries gently bound and gagged the older danuki and the surprisingly quiet children, taking them from their home to points unknown.


	24. Chapter 24 - Falling Apart, Together

Chapter 24 - Falling Apart, Together

After a solid month of spending at least a third of every day being painfully dragged through the sand by the neck, it felt like I was inexplicably getting worse at keeping up. However, despite the exertion and the sparing quantities of the food and water I was consuming, my body was otherwise holding up to the strain better than admirably.

What I couldn't seem to figure out was exactly _why_ my body was able to hold up as well as it had been. Aside from tasteless trail rations and the rare occasional treat of hunted game, the only consistency in my consumption was the oddly rejuvenating red paste Meryl kept feeding me. Far too good at banishing my weariness, I was really getting curious about what was actually in it.

Thankfully not the only one curious about what the vixen seemed determined to feed me at any opportunity, Zee finally stepped up with a curious look at lunch on the twelfth day.

"Spill it. What's in the mush?"

"Lots of things," Meryl answered dismissively enough to drive my own curiosity beyond what could be ignored.

"Don't start keeping secrets now, Meryl. I was just getting to like that honest side of you," I offered in response, earning a scowl from my foxy mate.

"Even when I can be completely honest in telling you that you're an insufferable asshole? Fine...I'll tell you, but there's no reason to get weird about it," Meryl began. "It's mostly mandragora root, and that's really good for...well...all sorts of stamina. There are a few other things, but nothing that should be harmful now."

Zee grumbled and prodded Meryl with one of her talon-like feet. "You've had mandragora root until now and you haven't even said anything? I haven't had a real night of sleep since we set out. Come on, let me at least get-"

"No!" Meryl suddenly shouted, batting away Azalea's reaching hand.

"So there _is_ something else in it. Out with it or I'll shave your tail in your sleep," Zee threatened, the look on her face making it clear that she probably wasn't bluffing.

Meryl seemed to fret over answering but looked to me and then looked at the ground with a sigh. "There are a few other minor spices, a small splash of plain honey, and...something that's really only okay for Joe to eat."

I made to put the bowl on the ground and back away for good measure as the cascade of horrifying possible ingredients ran through my head.

Meryl reached up and put a reassuring hand on my wrist and looked up at Zee. "Look, Zee...maybe you can't smell it or you're just more used to it, but-Joe, it tastes good doesn't it?"

"You're drugging me, aren't you? Meryl...I swear to fucking-" I began with the only assumption I could piece together.

Meryl looked as though she barely held back a desire to smack me as she cut in with a shout, "It isn't drugged, you ass! This was just one more thing I was going to have to deal with, but to anyone with a really good nose, you smell like death and...something else. I know just about fuck-all about magic, but I know that Delilah had been feeding you this stuff in your sleep from the moment she met you."

"Feeding me _what_? And why?" I asked, not quite wrapping my mind around the possible reasons.

Giving a heavy sigh, as much in confusion as anything else, Meryl continued. "Well...there's Lamentation extract in there. Delilah gave it to me to sell when she heard I left Alnor. After 'you' showed back up as a demon, I guess she didn't need it anymore. I have no idea what that 'other' scent is, but this extract is keeping it away. Lords only know how much sex you actually had with Delilah, but...if the extract from that mushroom isn't making you violently ill, you must be close enough to an incubus to tolerate it. Maybe you have been since her and Risa saved your life...I mean, wouldn't that explain your nearly inhuman sexual urges?"

At that I actually had to laugh, this whole situation no longer seeming nearly so tense. "Uh...sure-yeah...I definitely wasn't like this before I came here. Though...now that you mention it, I doubt without some sort of extra push, I probably wouldn't have fucked my own-actually, nevermind what I was about to say there."

In nearly perfect unison, my companions shook their heads and replied, "Yeah right."

"Oh. Well whatever. It happened and I'm not a girl anymore so let's not worry about it. So...you were saying about this extract…?" I attempted to unskillfully change the subject.

Meryl shook her head. "That's really all I know. Haven't you been feeling better recently?"

"That could just be from the conditioning. We've been moving a good bit faster every day, haven't we?" Zee asked, looking for a moment like she regretted what she'd just said.

I scowled at Azalea. "Oh, you bitch. So...what, I wasn't allowed to think I was getting better?"

The salamander shook her head in response. "Well, I wanted to keep your focus on the things that matter, but this at least explains how your stamina is getting better so quickly and why you don't seem to _really_ take your meals until Meryl starts your...ahem...evening training regimen. Let's just call it grappling lessons."

"Lessons, my ass! Feels like I'm teaching her most of the time," I said in jest, instantly regretting my choice of words (and thoughts).

Meryl smiled too-sweetly and replied with a false blush, "That reminds me, _professor_. I'm pretty sure we were getting to the lessons on masochism tonight. Since I'm _so_ fucking slow on the uptake you might have to demonstrate a few extra times for me."

Already knee-deep in shit, what could the further harm have been in playing along?

"Nah, you're the type of person to learn by doing. I need to make sure my student gets a thorough education, don't I?"

"Yeah, sure you do. Speaking of which, aren't you about due to have Zee kick your ass all around the desert again?" Meryl added with a wink.

"Such a bitch," I silently cursed to myself. Why did Meryl have to be so...exactly what I wanted?

-

Actual combat training over the past month days had gone from bad to worse...to far worse than even that.

The closest I'd come to actually even scoring a hit was when I managed to (barely) anticipate her taking my weapons right out of my hands again and managed to bear down on the blade, dragging the edge across her scaled palm. It wasn't enough to draw blood-hers anyway-as she nearly broke my nose with a headbutt for my trouble, but my plan was still coming together.

I noticed that she'd stopped holding back on strikes when I made misguided attempts to block as I had in our first conflict. The result often saw me on my knees, ass, or back as the titanic power of her inhuman body easily broke through my guard.

Somewhere around the fifth painful repeat of that episode, I had decided on exactly how I would beat the nearly unassailable salamander. It would take a lot of luck and no small amount of strength to carry it through, but against what seemed to be the bottomless depths of Azalea's ability, I was coming up empty on other possibilities.

Giving me a swift kick in the ribs that sent me tumbling at least a meter across the sand, Zee looked down at me and spoke in a frustrated tone. "How many times are you going to try different variations on that useless block, Joe? I already told you-you just aren't strong enough to stop my swing and you're moving far too late to try and redirect it."

Based on the way she fought, my initial goal was to try to perfectly replicate a certain situation at least a few times to see if she reacted the same each time. My ploy couldn't be too overt or it would have almost certainly given away what I was actually attempting.

Aside from some minor adjustments that would end up being negligible if my plan actually worked, she always managed the same perfect counter each time I attempted to try. After several days of utterly failed sporadic attempts, all amidst more normal training attempts, it became painfully clear that I was going to need to be a lot quicker to have any chance of making a real attempt at what I was planning. If she picked up on what I was trying to reason out, she made no indication.

At great cost to my knuckles, ass, and ribs, I had been able to determine that, barring any large changes in the other factors of the battle, I could consistently _fail_ in a way that would get Zee to act, more or less, as I expected. It wasn't so much a solution as it was a patch of clouds departing to allow a mountain climber to see the distant peak of a nearly unscalable mountain.

With the plan still in motion, and with a growing reliance on my decided advantage in quickness, my focus had transformed into trying to move quickly and powerfully enough to manage solid ripostes to her thunderous attacks. Beyond simply falling back into the fighting form I'd long forgotten, I was improving faster than I'd ever expected. Despite that, it was still infuriating that she _always_ managed to force me into the exact same losing position.

She'd make a horizontal slash forcing me to leap back, or roll forward, or even (in one nearly-fatal outing) to leap the attack. Even with a nearly perfect landing, I'd come to my feet just quickly enough to react too-slowly to the incoming downward swing. It was slowly taking her more moves to get me into that position, but it was still happening without fail no matter how I tried to change my tactics or rhythm.

God, I hoped I could make this plan work because it was feeling like I'd have had more luck trying to breed mosquitoes to have any chance at getting her blood.

-

What should have been a (mostly) safe three-day journey straight through the desert, had turned into a month-long crawl across the boundless sands to avoid armed patrols, poisoned oases, and desperate scavengers...among even more horrible unknown dangers. Once we eventually reached the (otherwise) far more hospitable lands of Amarante, however, being dragged behind the wagon was no longer going to be an option if I wanted to keep my skin attached.

With as featureless as the desert seemed, Zee may as well have been leading us across her own back yard. Only twice did we come within sight or earshot of anything that would have suggested that there was actually a war going on in this land.

Even though I was pretty sure Zee had made sure to slow the pace down a bit so I didn't get seriously hurt once we'd crossed the border, I simply wanted to believe that I'd finally gotten back into an even more respectable shape.

I still didn't know how to feel about what Meryl was feeding me. The only information I could really get out of either of my companions about it was that this mushroom extract was normally very dangerous. In answer to my questions to also attempt clarify what an 'incubus' really was, I received only blushing dismissal or seemingly uninterested silence. My own memory wasn't much help with the only fact coming to mind being that a man would normally have to be an incubus before turning into an alp.

That seemed like an outcome to be...avoided.

"I gave them names," I said, out of the blue, to Zee as I sat upon a tuft of soft grass, indicating the weapons she'd offered me as I gave the pair of them a thorough polishing.

"You definitely wouldn't be the first warrior to name their weapons. But you know, it's a lot more impressive if your enemies name them," Zee remarked with a smile as she admired the twin steel blades. "It does show that you respect them, though, and that's…" she trailed off, her mind seemingly a thousand miles away before she concluded by asking, "So what did you name them?"

"The longer one I'm calling Tizona...the shorter one is Colada," I offered with a smile.

Azalea's reaction was...interesting.

"Tizona and...ha," she began as her voice caught in a giggle that slowly bubbled up and grew each time she tried to speak. "Ha ha! Are you...hee hee-you can't be...no-Tizona?!" her laughter was so pure and guileless that it quickly became infectious.

"Oh come on...the names aren't that bad!" I protested as I tried to keep my own bout of laughter mostly buried.

Several minutes passed before Zee could even look at me without laughing, the lack of any malice in her making it all bearable. "You...say some pretty unbelievable things, Joe. Did one of my girls tell you or something?"

Now I was actually a bit confused. The names I'd chosen were the swords of a historical figure from Earth that I'd always thought was pretty amazing. Did they have some other meaning to Zee?

Seeing my look of confusion, Zee's wide smile actually faded a bit. "You're joking, right?"

"Huh? What do you mean? Do those names mean something else to-" I began.

Zee's smile vanished, replaced by apparent anger that I must have been messing with her. "Cut the shit! One of them had to have told you or said something. How could you just randomly guess _both_ the names of my father's swords?!"

"They weren't random choices!" I said, shaking my head slightly. "They were the swords a great general from my world used. I like history so...maybe we're both just fans of the same guy?"

My answer managed to dispel her anger entirely as she instead took on a serious look. "Keep the names then, but know that my father was never beaten even once-in the other world or this one. If you're...serious about using those names...I'm going to be expecting a lot more out of you, Joe."

Seeing her smile return, now mixed with a look of pride as she thought on her father, I grinned back at her. "Well, if you keep using those same maneuvers every single time we fight, it's only a matter of time before I take you down."

She stretched a bit and stood up, looking down at me with a 'come hither' look that was an entirely different creature when wielded by the martial-minded salamander. "I'll change my tactics just as soon as you give me a reason to. Let's see what you've got for me today." Almost as an afterthought she added, "Oh, and I'm sorry I snapped at you. It was stupid...but I thought you were trying to play some sort of mean joke on me."

Shaking my head as I stood and assumed my position, I answered back, "That really isn't my style, Zee. While my intentions are definitely less than honorable, the only times I can see myself hurting you in any way are the two times I intend to draw blood."

"Two times?" she asked with a smirk.

Giving a fencing salute, I moved to engage. "Once in the duel, and then again when I claim my prize from you."

Unable to hide the slightest blush, she strode toward me. "You're getting spanked today, Joseph."

As the powerful salamander advanced upon me, I couldn't help but notice that the fire of her normally weakly-smouldering tail seemed, for just a moment, to be just a bit more alive.

-Elsewhere-

It was the largest tree I'd ever seen, and I seriously doubted that there could be many more like it even in this world of magic. There was little chance that this could be anything but the place for which I'd been searching.

-Find mountain-sized tree: check.  
-Convince a living god to help a mishmashy grab-bag of genitals and randomly firing neurons to help me: in progress.

Already beaten, weary, and nearly delirious from the steadily escalating mental struggle with which I'd been dealing, I came before a pair of Amazonian guards at the base of this massive tree. Seeing their momentary looks of hunger at my appearance was enough of a relief to temporarily bury the growing dread at having to climb what looked like a stairway into the endless sky at this distance. Luckily, a wave of my now-familiar spaded tail dispelled the majority of any interest the guards might have had.

Despite revealing a monstrous nature, the guards seemed unconcerned by my potential threat level as one of them asked, "Why are you here?"

Making a slight bow that my exhaustion nearly turned into a far more obsequious gesture, I righted myself and spoke politely. "I humbly request an audience with the Lord Elizabeth."

With little more than a nodding gesture to follow, one of the guards escorted me up the thousands of stairs, stopping outside of a massive pair of double doors.

As a brothel owner, I'd had plenty of opportunities to hear of the new Lord of this territory from travelers. None of the stories I'd heard had been consistent, however, and I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't even entirely certain I'd even be able to meet her if the ordeal I'd gone through to meet Amarante was anything like standard procedure.

I smiled as I remembered _that_ hellish series of weeks. Despite the daunting weight of the labyrinthine bureaucracy trying to crush the life from us, it ended up feeling like quite the family victory to have finally overcome it.

Just thinking about my family immediate drew my mind to Del. I faced the stark realization that if I'd been in this state while we tried for the blessing, I'd have died while waiting in line to meet some functionary or another, long before actually meeting the lord. If Lord Elizabeth could truly help me, it was critical that I did whatever it took to earn the boon of her assistance.

Seeing the doors closed, my escort looked over to me. "The Lord is currently in a meeting. You will need to wait until it has finished."

Despite a growing worry over my deteriorating condition and the hateful voice that now screamed in my head loudly enough to make normal sounds and voices almost difficult to hear, I simply nodded to the guard. "I understand. This may be my only hope...I will wait."

" _Let him in~_ "

The voice was not booming or overpowering, but carried an authority that instantly reminded me that the person I'd come to meet was far beyond any simple mamono.

"As you wish, my lord!" the guard exclaimed, opening the large double doors to reveal a throne room of sorts.

The room was dominated by a large round table with the empty throne sitting further back. The large table was almost completely covered in various maps and correspondence, nearly all with indecipherable symbols, likely to represent troops or war assets.

Several individuals stood around the table, looking like they were discussing some sort of war strategy before I'd arrived.

Starting on the left, I first saw a powerfully-built Amazoness covered in scars and wearing a look that loudly spoke of a love of fighting. With a large wicked grin, it almost looked like she'd have been more than happy to vault the table and fight me right in that moment than listen to the real reason I was here.

Next to the Amazoness was an elf that looked as though she'd have been overjoyed to kill me with a glance before I even opened my mouth. I averted my eyes before her gaze ripped a hole through me.

Moving my eyes to my right, I saw a woman that must have had some tree in her lineage. Despite never seeing one, I knew this had to be a dryad. Next to her was a being that appeared to be made almost entirely of stone-some kind of golem or elemental, maybe? She didn't seem the least bit interested in me so I continued taking in the rest of the scene.

The next being I saw struck an immediate chord in me. My monstrous senses also picked up on something I understood through Del's dream tutoring but had never experienced. It was as if there was a particular shape or _flavor_ of magic radiating from her, and at least some of it was shaped similarly to Del's own necromancy. She was definitely a lich, and appeared to be the assistant to...the remaining person in the room.

Flanked from behind by the open balcony and the trees below, reaching to the horizon, stood a being that could only be the Lord Elizabeth herself. Having met with Amarante before, I expected an earth-shaking power. Instead I saw an impossibly beautiful woman that was actually heart-rending to behold. Even Lorelei and Zelia's impossibly unearthly beauty paled before this paragon of demonic perfection. Despite the familiar-looking succubus traits, it felt as though comparing the two would have been like comparing a zombie with a wight.

With a knowing smile, the obvious leader spoke up, "Welcome, weary traveler."

Throwing a dirty look in my direction, the elf asked, "My Lord, why have you allowed a man into our meeting?"

About to try to more obviously display my demonic attributes, the large amazon answered, "Oh, Cathy...why must you always go on about this subject. What I see before me is an Alp, not a man."

With a deepening scowl of irritation, 'Cathy' replied, "Yet he was _still_ once a man, so it should make no difference!"

Trying to act as the upbeat voice of reason, the dryad-looking woman cut into the growing argument. "Oh, I'm sure our lord would love to hear you two going at it like always. Don't you think our lord has more important things to do than listen to your bickering?"

Already concerned by how this was going and just how much worse it could get, I threw myself to my knees before this council. "I only _believed_ that I used to be male. Now, I am...something else...and it isn't an Alp."

Turning to me in anger, away from the other women in the room, the elf responded coldly, "Then should I refer to you as a man or as an 'it'?"

"I wish I had an answer to that question, milady. You can call me whatever you wish," I answered despondently.

"Then I shall merely call you trash," the elf answered with finality.

"Enough," the Lord demanded simply. "Please be seated," she then added, her words not able to hide the truth that it was less request than incontestable demand.

Moving forward as quickly as my tired body could carry me, I sat in the only open spot at the table, remaining silent as I did so.

"Now tell me Joe, why did you decide to come to my lovely home?" the leader of these proceedings asked me.

Knowing that every moment I waited was another closer to oblivion, I didn't hesitate. "I wish I could say that I simply wished to make a request of you, but the truth is that I have come to beg-to throw myself upon your mercy as perhaps the last and only hope I have to save my wife."

"Why is it I hear something like this at Faldarfar every time I get a new recruit?" the amazoness asked, letting out a roar of laughter.

"Enough Diana, this situation is vastly different." Elizabeth added, "Joe, what would you wish of me then? To rescue your wife or to relieve your current condition?"

The answer that came to my lips first, by instinct, was to simply save Del. I knew, however, that if I died to save her, Del would never let that be the end of it. Despite nearly every choice I'd made since just before the moment I arrived on the island suggesting something to the contrary, I didn't want to die.

"I...cannot say which is more important. I'm dying, but that matters _far_ less to me than saving my wife Delilah. The one that holds her demanded that I live-that I somehow stop the decay of this body to secure her release. Even now I hear the hateful voice of this body calling me to void my very soul but even accepting the absolute horror of my unmaking is something I would gladly bear to keep my loved ones safe."

"So then you would save yourself to save her?"

Even the poor choice that had brought me to this world had been one of death. Everything that followed seemed to suggest that death was something I would never truly escape. Sacrificing myself seemed a small price to pay, but the weight of her words made me reconsider-to remember that, more than not wanting to die, I wanted to _live_.

"If I could be saved, I...would be eternally grateful. There is little I can even offer beyond that."

"It sounds rather selfish and prideful to me, my lady," the earthen spirit commented.

"It does, doesn't it?" Elizabeth thought for a moment. "To save yourself in order to save another... The idea itself sounds so self-serving, but I can see something you may be able to do for me in the future. Everyone except for Samantha is dismissed, I shall have words with this man."

"Yes my lady." The group bowed and got up, walking out of the chamber quickly.

"Now...Samantha, " The Lord began as the lich pulled out a vial filled with a powdery substance and handed it to the Lord without a word as Elizabeth continued, "Arise my dear sister, I need you a moment."

To my senses, it felt like a reanimation spell at first...but utilizing a catalyst and avenue with which I was entirely unfamiliar. I heard a voice echoing through my head as the ashes stirred.

"What..." the disembodied voice issued forth.

"I need to know the location of the Sands of Ashburrow," the Lord declared.

The insubordinate voice answered back, "And you expect me to know? Ha! Even if I knew I would never tell."

"Is that a fact?" Elizabeth grinned wickedly and began shaking the bottle. The voice from inside became quickly angry and upset.

"STOP THAT!" The voice demanded, only to be ignored as the lord continued to shake until the voice surrendered.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT, I'll tell you..."

"Good." The greater demon stopped, setting the bottle down. "Always the problem child of the family~"

"Me? No, you must be referring to Victoria..."

"Whatever, just tell me where it is," Elizabeth demanded.

"Where all sands are kept...In a tomb against the mountains along the border."

"Thank you~" She picked up the bottle and it instantly vanished. She turned back to me and spoke. "Seeing as how you are in no real condition to fetch it, I'll be just a moment." With that the lord vanished and then reappeared only moments later, holding a small bag.

"Now I only require one last thing to grant your wish... Can you guess what that could be?"

Several thoughts came to mind at her question. Feeling immensely bashful to even be harboring the impure thoughts that ran through my head unbidden, I gave the barest hint of the only answer I could imagine with my eyes still hypnotized by her beauty. "It...cannot be what I am thinking. I have been part of a few rituals but..." I simply let the thought die before I got myself into trouble.

"Oh my dear, I don't think you could handle me all too well..." The lord smiled, giggling slightly.

Any attempt to hold back the lascivious thoughts that accompanied her previous question were buried in a damning sea of 'what ifs'. Biting my tongue hard enough to draw blood and maintain my tenuous grasp on sanity, I shook my head violently. "N-no...I don't know what else you require."

She smiled more. "Considering your track record with other _succubi_ I would be more careful but anyway, I require the one thing that body of yours does not have: A living soul. Do you happen to have a spare soul?"

I felt a mixed sense of despair at her question. Was she joking? Did I truly need another soul? Did that mean trying to hunt down the 'real' me?

"Not to worry, I was just joking. Just lay down and let me begin."

It seemed an odd place to do this, but I was so desperate for this to work and it wasn't as if I would have refused a request from such a commandingly beautiful woman in the first place. I did as I was asked, my entire world going black nearly the moment my head hit the unyielding wood of the table.

-

Fading into view, the previously unseen spirit spoke up, "Thank you for not revealing my presence. He can be selfish, but he's ridiculously stubborn and he'd never agree to this if he knew it was me making the sacrifice for him."

"It seems silly to ask but, for the sake of simple courtesy, are you sure you wish to proceed? This process is permanent and irreversible," Elizabeth asked the spirit.

"He'll be able to live like this...even if it's as a demon, right? And he won't...forget me, will he? He's probably already forgotten me anyway..."

The dry look the Lord returned to the kitsune-bi was enough of an answer and the spirit didn't want to waste this chance. She thought of what she'd seen and on what might have been if circumstances had been different. Could she have ever truly had a chance with the man that had literally fallen from the sky in front of her? But then...making this choice would bring her closer to him than anyone else ever could be.

"It doesn't matter what I tell you as you've already made this choice, but you don't need to worry. Even lost and senseless, he still remembered that song you still sing to yourself."

The spirit remained silent, the truth of the Lord's answer comforting her more than anything else she could imagine.

"Before the ritual can begin, you must speak your true name," the Lord said.

"So long, goodbye," The spirit mouthed to herself silently before answering the lord. "I was never truly given a name, but the only name that I've ever used is…"

-

Meryl was so anxious to get us to our destination that I took in little of the amazing city within which I'd finally found myself. The places through which we walked were full of sights and sounds that were so distant from what I'd ever experienced (that I could remember, anyway), that I was utterly dumbstruck.

I received several unexpectedly friendly greetings, along with any number of brazenly obvious offers of gold for sex, as we passed through the seemingly endless brothel district. It was probably for the best that Meryl was in such a hurry because, while these men seemed to know me, I had no idea who any of them were. Feigning an overwhelming fatigue thankfully managed to keep me out of any potentially uncomfortable conversations.

We made our way through the city to a clean, upper middle class-looking neighborhood to a fairly large house among others of beautiful construction. I had little time to admire even the sunburst design in the small courtyard before I heard my fox-tailed companion let out a gasp.

"Why is the gate-oh lords, no…" Meryl began in a panic, suddenly dashing into the large home before us, paying us no heed as she sprinted.

Following my fox-tailed mate into the home, we came immediately upon the heart-rending sight of the zombie Lorelei, badly beaten and now missing an arm, as she huddled on the floor, trying to cradle the clearly lifeless body of the young Shinji. Splayed out beneath them like a blackened crimson butterfly was the already dried pool of the boy's blood.

The three of us could only gape at what we saw as Lorelei's previously emotionless face was now nearly frozen in a cruel anguish. Tears cut across the ridges and valleys of her many grievous facial scars to fall with her cries, without effect, upon the boy she had so recently chosen to be hers.

How could this have happened? I didn't want to believe that this could be my fault, but my heart had already gleaned the sickening truth. Fate had once again seen to making me the bane of this entire family...and perhaps of anyone or anything I had the gall to touch with any measure of affection.

I stepped slowly toward the vulnerable undead as she looked up at me in a devastated confusion.

Her mouth opening to unleash what I thought would be another of her incomprehensible moans, I gasped as I heard words instead. "Mother...said...yes. Shinji...would...be always...mine." She then hesitated as her expression slowly shifted between stages of deepening sadness and further confusion. "Why...hurt...inside? Blades and...flames...not hurt...like this. This...is like...hurt I...caused…?

Even if I'd never met this girl before, I couldn't have ignored my heart's instinctive need to act in that moment. I banished my discomfort at seeing the dead body and stepped forward to kneel down beside Lorelei, pulling the boy from her grip to lay him gently on the floor.

"Lorelei," I began as delicately as I could manage as I pulled her into my arms, her gaze still frozen upon the slain boy. "I'm sorry..."

Tears continued to pour from her, soaking unnoticed into the coarse cloth of my rough tunic as she spoke again. "Meet...other men...but never...other Shinji. I...understand now. I am...a...monster."

"No," I attempted, in my guilt, to correct her, "this is my fault."

Her look slowly and unskillfully shifted to one of slightly subdued anger as she turned her head to look at me. "Mother not...guilty for my...crime. Stupid father...did not hurt...my Shinji."

I didn't know what crime Lorelei could have committed with an amiable personality like hers. From the moment I'd first seen her, she had been little more than a sweet, considerate girl, albeit with some serious communication issues. This was likely another one of those things I didn't remember, despite wishing in that moment that I could...if only to help the devastated zombie I held, ragged, in my arms.

Meryl had dashed off in what sounded like an attempt to turn the place inside-out to find some sign of her sister. Heading up the stairs first, I heard the sounds of doors being thrown and slammed again as the distraught fox-girl looked for something to ease her reeling mind.

After having remained silent throughout our conversation, Zee took the initiative and kneeled beside us as well, drawing Lorelei's gaze as the salamander spoke calmly, "I know it hurts, believe me. But all things die eventually, even among the ageless, and the pain doesn't ever completely go away. You should be _happy_ that it hurts inside, though, girl. That means part of him was there in your heart-and he always will be."

Lorelei nodded slowly and tightened her one-armed grip upon me. "Father...found good...new wife. Should...tell...other mother...first...downstairs."

"What? Risa's still here?!" Meryl nearly shouted from a nearby room as she dashed back into the foyer.

Nodding again, Lorelei pushed me away from her slightly. "I...need...say goodbye...to...my Shinji. You...go...to Karisa...father." She then gently touched my chest and added, "You should...remember...people...inside you."

Taking my hand, Meryl nearly dragged me to my feet and through a pair of hallways to a set of wide stairs leading down as Zee matched pace, her sword already in hand.

The moment my feet touched the bottom step, however, my entire world became one of soul-shredding pain. The feeling of air in my lungs felt, quite literally, like molten lead pouring into me. I wavered on my feet, the entire world feeling like it had also been turned upside-down.

"Something's...wrong," I managed with some difficulty, the sound of my own words making me feel like I'd been thrown into a lake of fire as the mental impulses that controlled every sensation had all transformed into dolorous agony.

I then heard two loud impacts of some kind, the sound of both again triggering more pain than the sensation of simply hearing them. As I was about to try and struggle my way back up the stairs, the pain stopped and everything went silent.

Before me stood a beautiful young girl with a fluffy striped tail like a raccoon. Huddled together on the ground behind her were two tiny girls with similar features. Holding a large hatchet in both hands, the tanuki-girl's expression was one of murderous intent, her viridian eyes daring anyone to touch what could only be her children.

As I tried to take in the sudden appearance of the scene, I heard an impact of steel on steel and turned to see that Zee had parried...something. Nothing was visible, confirming that even this seemingly normal scene was yet another illusion.

"Let go of me!" I heard a voice suddenly scream from nowhere as Meryl reached into nothingness again and pulled forth the girl I'd just seen standing across the room into her arms.

"I've got you, Ris. It's me, calm down," Meryl cooed to the younger-looking girl.

"Meryl?" Looking upon closer inspection like she'd gone at least a week without sleep, Meryl's sister Karisa dropped the large hatchet and melted into Meryl's arms. "Oh Meryl...they tried to take us. By the time I heard the fighting, Lorelei and that boy Shinji were already-I-I have to tell Del and-"

"It's okay. We'll get this figured out, okay? Everything is going to be okay," Meryl soothingly offered, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Are you on something? Quit saying 'okay'! Just tell me what the hell is going on!" Karisa suddenly shouted, pushing the taller fox girl away as our eyes finally met. "Joe!" she suddenly exclaimed with a smile as she tackled me to the floor in a hug.

"Uh...hey there...um...Karisa," I lamely muttered, glad I remembered her name but too embarrassed to even meet her gaze for longer than the few moments it took to verify that her eyes were the exact same color as Meryl's.

After I failed to return the frantic kisses with which she'd begun to assault me, her eyes went wide in shock as she suddenly pinned my arms to the ground and craned her neck around to look at Meryl. "What the-Meryl! What the fuck is this?!" She then turned an appraising eye upon me. "No, you don't come back from a transformation. You must be the one with Joe's essence, you thieving bastard!"

Taking offense to the tone and the content of her angry proclamation, I shook my head and spoke up. "No, actually the other one is the clone. I'm the original but I...don't have my memories-the ones that would matter to you, anyway."

A number of thoughts were warring in her eyes. She could see that I was definitely human, and I figured she had to know that it couldn't be a coincidence that I just happened to look like her husband.

Blinking away now-stifled tears of happiness, she looked, crestfallen, back at me. "Then where is he?! Where's Del? Who were those soldiers? What's-"

With the strength in her pin now gone, I gently pushed Karisa off of me and moved to a sitting position next to her, softly grasping her arm as I began to answer her many questions. "Delilah's been captured by some witch named Mira-don't ask me exactly how or why. I'd also guess whoever came after you was from the same group that came after us...something about a corpse throne, maybe. And...as far as I know, that same witch sent your husband off to find some sort of cure for his condition after I woke him up with...uh...well…"

Meryl then cut in with her increasingly familiar scowl, "What _this_ Joe is trying to say is that we just got him changed back to male, he's a filthy homewrecker, and he's completely clueless about what's actually going on."

I shot back angrily without hesitation, "At least I have a fucking reason to not know anything about magic! Has it slipped your mind that I'm the one with the fucking bulls-eye on my ass for shit I'm not even entirely convinced I could have done in the first place?! Maybe tone down the attitude, because Karisa here looks like she'd be _plenty_ happy if I spontaneously remembered who she-"

It wasn't entirely evident exactly when I'd crossed the line, but I was fairly certain it was in the first or second of my angry sentences. What _had_ become abundantly clear was that I'd just been slapped, and not by the hand I'd expected.

Looking shocked herself that she'd just hit me, Karisa's hand quickly recoiled as her eyes burned through me. "Don't you even dare."

Meryl looked at me gape-mouthed as her expression had begun to fall at my words. Seeing her sister smack me, however, had her widely smiling-at least until the tanuki-girl had quickly stood and slammed a fist into the larger fluffy-tailed girl's midsection.

With no less wrath in her voice, Karisa continued as she glared at the doubled-over Meryl. "And you thought this would be okay, Meryl?! Even if I believed this bullshit about him being the 'original', how long were you going to hide this from me? Del said someone stole his essence, and you _knew_ that! And who's this mountain of a woman supposed to be?"

The wind knocked out of her, Meryl tried to catch her breath as she could only gesture in my direction.

Seemingly fine with this exchange, Azalea stepped forward and gave a slight bow to Karisa. "I'm Azalea-Zee if fine. I'm Joe's bodyguard. Uh...I'm pretty sure what they're telling you is true. I actually talked to Delilah while she was tracking him down and once she actually saw him, she seemed pretty convinced that he was more than just some lost essence. It was my girls that initially captured your husband though...and I'm sorry about that."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Karisa looked like she wanted to tear her hair out as she growled back. "How did you even get involved in this? Did you tell them to take my husband? He was sick! Do you even have any idea what I've gone through to try to find him?!"

Despite being about as far from a diplomat as I could imagine, Zee managed to calm things down a bit as she explained what her girls had been trying to do, how it had everything to do with me, and what had transpired in Kioko.

Having caught her breath while Zee had related the events to Karisa, Meryl finally spoke up again. "Ris, look...I knew he couldn't be your Joe because he was still asleep here when I ran into this one. That letter I sent you was to make sure because I wasn't going to try and take your husband from you. Even if it really _was_ him...he didn't...it's just…"

Seeing Meryl struggling to continue, I rubbed my sore cheek and piped up in an attempt to be helpful. "I had my memories taken, Karisa. Based on what I've seen so far, I think it was precisely _because_ there was another me out there. Meryl cares about me because the 'me' you know was the only man she'd ever been with. I knew that-"

"Joe! You...bastard!" Meryl suddenly screamed, her face turning bright red as she glared at me more angrily than I'd ever seen.

Well, shit.

Karisa's anger that had been slowly subsiding as we'd continued to speak roared back as a murderously calm response. "We're about to have a very serious disagreement if this doesn't start making sense _now_ , Meryl."

With the stifling tension in the room growing thick enough to taste, Zee's sudden defensive movement was a blessed interruption. Turning quickly with her sword to face the figure that had descended the stairs, we all saw Lorelei carrying two letters bearing similar markings.

"Two...messengers...came," the one-armed zombie said with some difficulty.

"At the same time?" Karisa asked with an obvious confusion at the identical seals on each of them. "Who sent them?"

"Messengers...not friends. Both...from...South...Teremir...Mercantile."

Karisa's expression fell again as it looked like she would cry. "Please tell me neither of you are dealing with Teremir," she pleaded, her eyes growing more despondent when both Meryl and I looked away, both of us having dealt with that organization in some capacity.

Not even sure what that organization could have had to do with any of this, I was about to speak up when I nearly jumped from the floor as two small bodies crawled into my lap, the pair of them smiling up at me before adorably curling up together against me.

Affectionately stroking their eminently pleased heads, I felt myself utter, "Aurielle...Arianwyn… my little angels. I missed you both so much."

As the fluffy-tailed sisters, Meryl and Karisa, covered their mouths in unison, tears breaking free from both of them for reasons identical and yet wildly different, I shook my head as I looked around in confusion.

"Huh? What...did I...just say?" I asked the shocked women in the room.

The only answer I received, however, was a piercing headache hitting me like an avalanche, tearing across my perceptions until the blessed reprieve of unconsciousness took me.


	25. Chapter 25 - Domestic Abuse

Chapter 25 - Domestic Abuse

-Some time ago-

"How many agents do we have inside? What is the outlay?" a powerfully echoing female voice asked.

"No agents of any consequence. The city may not be moving anywhere near the amount of coin that Alnor or Teremir do, but the place is rich beyond anything I've ever seen. I must have seen at least four hundred different men in the three days that I spent there...it was beyond belief."

"They've outright rejected any attempt to negotiate for trade rights. Blacklist? Regicide? How do we take our piece of these riches?" the initial voice asked, growing more curious despite her escalating annoyance.

"Quite honestly, we don't. The leader is incorruptible and far beyond anything we'd be equipped to handle conventionally. The few contacts we have that could depose her are untrustworthy...and that is being extremely generous. We simply don't have anything they want and the chances of that changing grow less likely by the day."

For the first time since their conversation began, the senior among the two of them let slip some outward sign of her emotion, her lips curling into a slight frown. "Did we not finance a great deal of the construction? If memory serves as it should, we were not generous with the rates. Someone should have long ago fallen into our pocket."

"There was such an individual, but her debt was repaid in less than ten years. We have no leverage with them, no agents, and no opening in the foreseeable future to change that."

Her eyes closing in thought a moment, the leader sat in utterly breathless silence for several minutes as she pondered over how to proceed. Her eyes finally opened in an assured determination as she asked a final question of her subordinate. "If they were to continue as they have, who would benefit?"

"I…" the subordinate hesitated, reluctant to giver her answer. "Everyone. With how many humans they've been able to cultivate, willingly I might add, it would only be a matter of time before every mamono on the island could potentially have her own mate. If their techniques were to spread...its possible-likely even-that none of us would ever truly want for anything again."

Nodding, the leader responded without evident emotion. "It is unfortunate, then, that such a world is not to be. The Regard will have its due. If we cannot have it, we will destroy whatever withholds it. Summon the rest of the council and prepare to send out the missives. Something has been missed, and my eyes will find it."

-

"Son of a bitch," I found myself wanting to say as I started to come awake after yet another unplanned slumber. Choosing to remain silent may have been the correct call as I made out the voices coming into focus around me. Far too curious to let this opportunity pass, I simply left my eyes closed and listened.

"The man gets around, sure," I heard Zee's voice remark almost amused before adding, "Didn't both of you know that when you got involved with him?"

"I didn't!" I heard Karisa exclaim defensively. "Honestly though...a lot of the time from when that fox spirit was possessing me is still a bit fuzzy."

"We're getting off topic again. Look, what did you and Del do to him right after you found him in that graveyard?" Meryl asked impatiently, the obvious concern in her voice making me want to smile at how indelicately she chose to express her emotions.

I heard what sounded like a stamping foot before Karisa answered back, "I didn't do anything! I made the deal with Del to share him and then she put him straight into some sort of trance. Then she sent me off to gather as much of that damn unicorn horn as I could."

Meryl countered doubtfully, "You didn't know what it was for? And you didn't even ask?"

"Don't start with me today, Meryl. You have no idea how scary Del was back then. By the time I got back a few days later, she'd already put his body back together somehow. There weren't even any scars. I'd already spent everything I had and then some, and he looked a lot better so…" Karisa trailed off as though even the situation she was describing was somehow a happy memory.

Holding to task, Meryl continued, "So he smelled like death after you came back the first time?"

With a frustrated sigh, Karisa answered back in a way that suggested this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation. "You aren't listening. Look, I know it isn't helping that I can only half-remember it, but I _know_ he smelled exactly the same as when he first fell into my cart."

"What about now?" Zee asked, aiming for clarity. "Do you smell death on him now?"

Sighing again with the accompanying sound of her ruffling her own hair in frustration, Karisa answered. "Would you both _listen_?! The only thing that smells any different at all is whatever he picked up from his demonic...self, I guess, and that Ryu's blood. Everything that isn't _human_ on him smells exactly the same as it always has! I know because it reminds me of that damn scent I picked up after…"

This must have been a new development as Meryl pressed back in right as Karisa had begun to trail off. "After what?"

"Ajora's wedding...when I killed you, Kaeli, and Yuki," Karisa added with some hesitation.

"Uh...Ris?" Meryl intoned in confusion, clearly not dead.

Just by her breathing, I could tell that Karisa was still upset as she spoke again. "I'm not an idiot, Meryl. I know it was an illusion, but I just realized...I have no idea what actually happened at that wedding."

With a slightly nervous chuckle, Meryl replied, "I'm...uh...more than a little rough on that one myself."

"But I've never been able to trick you with any of my glamours," Karisa started back in an assured disbelief.

With the sound and slight shaking of the bed caused by what I assumed was a pleasing foxy tush landing nearby, Meryl answered back with no small amount of regret in her voice. "Ajora's glamours are the only ones that have ever fooled me. Anyway, I'll tell you what I know, but you aren't going to be happy about it and it isn't going to help bring the pieces of this any closer together."

Meryl took a large breath as I felt the slight breeze from her fluffy tail nervously passing by me.

"Kaeli and I were already drunk before the whole thing started. We'd managed to swipe a few of those thousand-gold bottles Ajora was saving to try and impress the _really_ important guests. Tasted like holstaur piss, by the way.

Anyway, we were so shit-faced that we completely forgot what time we were supposed to show up to get dressed and...we figured it was a better idea to show up early than late, right? We snuck in the back and saw Ajora, calm as you please, railing Gabriel hard enough to have his teeth clicking on every thrust while she was having a normal chat with some pale bitch. Vampire, maybe...some kind of undead. She was wearing one of those stupid Violaceous Regard pendants that some of the Teremir moneychangers wear."

With some hesitance now evident in her voice, Karisa asked, "So what were they talking about?"

I felt Meryl's tail starting to almost slap at my legs in trepidation or embarrassment-I couldn't be sure. "Maybe Kaels would know, but I wasn't...uh...paying attention."

The bed shook slightly from what had have been a kick as Karisa angrily replied, "Oh, that's just _fantastic_. So you were too busy jilling off to hear anything useful. Perfect."

"Piss off!" Meryl shot back. "If I _had_ heard anything, I'd have probably gotten exiled like Kaeli. All I can really say is that I never saw Ajora as pissed as she was that day, and it wasn't at me or Kaeli. Even after she put her smiling face on afterwards, I could tell she wasn't over whatever they talked about.

After that, the alcohol really started kicking in, but it was just a normal wedding...I heard. I was passed out in a closet for most of it. I came around for the reception and I seem to remember that being sort of fun. Ixi kept 'accidentally' running into Gabriel and he was holding his ass every time he had to stand up," Meryl finished with a small giggle.

Karisa's temper apparently only growing hotter, she angrily chided Meryl. "And now this. I swear, Meryl… _you're_ the one who told me never to deal with anyone out of Teremir!"

The bed shook a bit as Meryl jumped back to her feet. "Oh, because random Kaori priestesses are so much better? Look, can we both just admit that sense goes out the window when _he_ is involved?"

"So you're admitting it _is_ him," Karisa quietly threw back, her tone obviously antagonizing.

"Don't start this again-you know what I meant. He doesn't even know you."

"That's utter bullshit and you know it! He knew his daughters, Meryl!" Karisa loudly criticized.

Meryl's voice grew cold while it was blatantly obvious that there was a growing fire driving her temper. "Risa, we're not having this fight again. His memory isn't just lost-it's sealed. On top of that, he had sex with _your_ husband. Hell, he never bathes...you can probably still smell the futa cum on him."

Her tone making it sound like she was attempting to take the sympathetic road here, Karisa exclaimed, "Damn it, Meryl. Why didn't you just tell me he was your first? We could have figured something out."

My foxy companion wasn't having any of that and coldly argued back. "Don't try to change the subject. This is different and I want you to admit it. Your husband is a demon and this is _my_ mate."

"If you're going to be a bitch about it then I won't rescind the bounty and I'll get to keep him for a few years while the courts sort this all out," Karisa challenged with no small amount of anger in her own voice.

"Just try it, girlie. I'll beat your ass right here!" Meryl shouted back.

"I don't have to put up with this. This is my house! I'm calling the watch," I heard Karisa loudly proclaim as I heard her steps taking her away from me.

Meryl stomped on the floor loudly and quietly growled. "Leave it to the crybaby to go cockatrice and run off to tattle. Why not tell mother while you're at it? It's a good thing Delilah was around all this time or he'd probably be long dead. At least she can actually do shit herself!"

"Why are you always like this?!" Karisa screamed back, her voice cracking and uneven.

"Oh, here we go with the waterworks. I don't even know why I try with you," Meryl taunted derisively.

Having heard the vast majority of this conversation and it's quick escalation, I had to almost shake my head as I forced myself to remember that these two were sisters. Despite what might be happening at first glance, there was a lot more going on below the surface between these two. Thinking of the many fights I'd had with my own sister, it was clear enough to me that they cared a great deal about each other-enough to fight in the first place. But...leave it to loved ones to know exactly how to hurt us the most.

Startling me from my task at pretending to still be asleep, I heard Lorelei's voice ask, far closer to me than I expected, "Why...father...quiet?"

Her voice smiling as she spoke with certainty, Zee answered, "Because he's awake, girl."

Damn it, Zee.

Floundering motionless amidst the deafening silence for several moments as the sensation of several palpable stares burned into me like the morning sun through dissipating fog, I finally opened my eyes to see Karisa and Meryl looking extremely embarrassed at the foot of the bed as Azalea looked on from a chair across the room, her kiseru firmly in hand as smoke trailed from it, lazily reaching upward. On the bed near me, I saw Lorelei playing with the strangely quiet twin girls, using her severed arm like a toy to tease the pair of them.

"We need to talk," Meryl and Karisa suddenly exclaimed together.

For the first time since the exchange began, I had a real chance to consider some of my own thoughts on this whole situation. I know I didn't like the two sisters fighting, and certainly not over me...or any reasonable facsimile.

In their anger, the girls had also managed to completely ignore that there was a very real potential threat out there-and I seriously doubted that the vengeance of the "corpse throne" couldn't have cared less about which of these girls had a rightful claim on my wedding tackle. A quick look at Zee verified my additional assumption that the salamander had probably been getting very little sleep in trying to remain vigilant to protect all of us-me. That may have bothered me the most.

Sitting up on the large, comfortable bed, I finally spoke. "You guys seem to be doing just fine without me. This is just an idea, but has anyone here thought to give a shit about what I might want?"

Almost immediately after I'd finished my question, Lorelei opened her mouth to answer before Zee deftly intervened. "Come on, bring your arm and let's take your sisters to give these three some privacy."

Azalea never ceased to surprise me with how damn perceptive she was. I supposed it had to make sense when considering the way she fought, but who knew that she could also be so aware of the dangers of a conversational battlefield?

Despite trying to appear coolly detached from the high emotional benchmark within the room, I couldn't help but snort in a moment of laughter as I imagined Lorelei volunteering to 'give a shit about what I might want'. Once the thought had taken root, it was pointless to try and remain angry.

Sighing, I crossed my legs into a half-lotus and looked up at the worried faces of the two Panna sisters. "First of all...stop fighting. You both know there's a lot more going on than this love...uh...hexahedron.

"But you have to admit-" Meryl started, making me wonder when I somehow became the parent in the argument.

I cut in before my foxy companion could even present what was probably a ridiculously childish argument. "Don't even think about it, either of you. Meryl, you know how I feel so _please_ just back off on this for now. And Karisa, we need to-"

"Risa is fine, please. It's bad enough I have to listen to you talking to me like a stranger," the stripey-tailed of the two sisters requested.

Nodding my head, I stood up on more or less rested legs and gestured to the door. "Meryl, I need you to do me a huge favor while I head to the market with your sister."

"With my-Hold on, Joe! You aren't seriously-"

Stomping my foot (and instantly regretting said action upon the solid marble floor) to cut her off, I took three large strides towards Meryl's quickly crumbling facade and placed a lingering kiss upon her lips.

"You trust me?" I asked plainly, looking into her eyes as she rocked back on her feet a bit.

"I...uh-yes," she answered, quite a bit more timidly than she'd been throughout the conversation until this point.

"Then that's all that matters," I offered with a smile. "So about this favor-I don't care what you have to do, but make sure Zee gets some fucking sleep. I don't know how long I was out, but she looks like she's been up at least that long and she hasn't really had any real sleep since...well...since I met her. As for the rest...well...I haven't gotten that far yet, but I definitely need to take care of some things at the market, okay?"

Meryl simply nodded, her eyes doubtfully lingering on Risa for several moments. "Fine, just...be careful-both of you."

Glad I was already dressed in some admittedly comfortable robe-like clothes, I grabbed Risa's hand and dragged her from the room before her almost triumphant look could bear any sort of damning conversational fruit.

Coming down the stairs, I could hear Zee's voice from further inside the modest home and found her with Lorelei and the two young twins on a sort of veranda looking toward the east.

"Hey Zee, we're heading into the market but we'll be back soon. Get some sleep while we're gone, Meryl's going to make sure you aren't disturbed," I called out.

"Hold on there," Azalea called back as she stepped back into the house, relief and worry fighting for dominance in her eyes. "I've already let you get taken twice on my watch and I wouldn't know the first thing about tracking you down in a city like this."

I could tell that, despite an obvious desire to sleep, the last thing Zee wanted to do was take a chance on me being thrust into danger again. My mind still running a thousand miles a minute trying to put things together, what I hoped was the right answer for this situation sprung to my lips.

"This is also part of my plan to win our duel, but if you really think you need the advantage…"

Unable to muster a frown amidst all the smile that had just bloomed, Zee knew she had no choice but to agree. "That mouth is going to get you into some serious trouble one of these days."

Smiling as I made for the foyer, I turned back and winked. "Oh, this mouth is going to cause the sort of trouble you haven't ever even _dreamed_ about."

"Be back before sundown or I'm coming out after you...and neither you, Meryl, or Karisa is going to be able to talk down the city watch after what I'll do if I have to search for you," Zee answered _almost_ assuredly enough to hide her slight blush.

With a quick stop to fetch my weapons from Meryl's wagon while the increasingly dumbfounded Risa simply followed, we made our way out onto the street...where I very nearly threw up my hands in surrender at the sudden realization that I no idea which way to go to find the market. That seemed a bit strange, suggesting that whatever memories had been taken must have somehow been tied in with the market to a substantial degree.

Her eyes searching me for something I wasn't sure she'd ever be able to find, Risa spoke quietly, pointing south. "It's that way to the general market. What...did you need to do there?"

Moving off at a brisk but calmer pace, I looked back to the dazed raccoon girl as she kept a weak grip upon my hand. Seeing her in the sunlight made it patently obvious that she was related to Meryl. I seemed to remember something about some sort of monster that could spawn children of different species, but I couldn't quite bring it from the tip of my tongue to full remembrance. Those bright emerald eyes couldn't have been more clear in telling of their relation, however, and they _certainly_ weren't making things any easier.

"I need to see a blacksmith...a really good one," I began, turning my eyes back to the city street ahead of me. "But I really needed to talk to you as well. I'm sure you probably want to ask me some questions too, so...if you'll help me find a smith that can take care of a certain job for me, I'll truthfully answer any question you could possibly want to ask me."

"Oh, is that all?" she asked.

I was ready to throw off her hand and turn back to her in frustrated anger before it registered that she wasn't trying to be sarcastic. That just made me more worried that she'd accept my other request of her without a fight. If she was in a fragile state, I was going to end up paying for all this later, and I wasn't too keen to volunteer for the illusionary wringer again after barely surviving Cecily's funhouse with my sanity intact.

"I might...ah...also need to borrow some gold. Meryl should be good for it though."

"Fine," she said simply, her voice and expression speaking volumes in a language I simply couldn't read. "We'll head to Kenzie One-Eye's place-two blocks from the harbor, just off the market square. I hear she's one of the best metalworkers in the city."

The more I wandered through the well-kept streets of this side of the city, the more everything seemed so...familiar. It wasn't like I really recognized anything, but it was as if my feet remembered the uneven lay of the cobbled stone on the stretch between Risa's home and the market. I wondered how many times I might have made this trip in the life...before.

With minimal guidance from Risa, we made it to Kenzie One-Eye's Magnificent Metalworks. Fully expecting a giant cyclops to be manning the forge within, what greeted us instead was very nearly the opposite.

With the glow of the forge beyond, I saw a positively tiny woman that looked more likely to have gotten lost in this shop on the way to a candy store than to be masterfully working the forge. Like the measured ticking of a clock and the resounding volume of church bells at a joyous wedding, the diminutive figure brought a hammer nearly as large as her own body thundering down upon an anvil with metronomic precision. Each time the massive implement struck the metal beneath, I felt a wholly unexpected shiver run through me.

Tickled by the unexpected sight and the vibrations that kept reverberating through me, I unintentionally let slip a small giggle, covering my mouth a moment later to hold back anything more.

Her pace not slowing or changing in the slightest, the tiny girl shouted back at me between the resounding impacts of her hammer. "That better have been a cough or whatever you want crafted is going to cost more than just gold."

"No, it's that-" I began before another impact sent that strange shiver through me again. "Every time you...bring your hammer down it...makes me feel...weird."

"Aye, I suppose this isn't simple iron. Hold on to your balls then and I'll be with you in a moment," she said without turning her gaze from her current project.

Looking all around the shop, I didn't see much in the way of display pieces. The few items that were displayed seemed to be mundane, or humbly unassuming. While I worried if this extremely petite woman would be able to handle the request I had, I couldn't help but smile at the thought that this smith was more proud of peacetime implements such as plow blades and gardening shears than of the sort that cut down life.

Snapping me forcefully from my contemplation, I barely even noticed that the steady impacts had ceased and the tiny woman stood before Risa and I. "Well if it isn't the king of all whores 'imself, down amongst the unwashed. What ever can Kenzie do fer you today...majesty?"

Hearing those words in her lilting, but not too thick, Irish-sounding brogue, I couldn't tell if I was being insulted or praised, and her slightly gruff demeanor wasn't making the decoding process any easier. I figured it was best just to keep to business if possible.

"I need you to look at this sword...and tell me if you can make me an exact duplicate. Well...almost exact."

Electing to hand her the sheathed weapon rather than risk placing it potentially out of her reach on the dangerously high countertop, I watched as she closed an eye and looked the blade over, giving a low whistle as she did so. "Fine a blade as I've seen in an age. Why's a blatherskite like you want to make such a dangerously pretty girl jealous?"

I frowned a bit as she fawned over the fine weapon Zee had given me, looking like she wanted to sing it a lullaby. "Can you do it? It's got to look exactly like this one, but-"

The dwarf looked back at me angrily and slid Tizona back into the sheath. "Aye, I can do it, but I don' like making weapons. You don't look completely daft, so tell me why...and if I like the reason we can talk about price."

"Well…" I began as I started to explain exactly what I wanted and why, my betraying smile only seeming to make Kenzie more interested.

-

Nearly two hours later, Risa and I walked out of the smithy, one of us considerably lighter for want of the many coins left behind.

So far, Risa had said little and looked as though her thoughts were far beyond the city walls. To look at her, it was hard to believe that a girl so beautifully toned and slender could have already had two children. I saw the barest hint of a smile when she caught me admiring her before I quickly looked away, my brain being less than kind with the sorts of teasing fantasies it conjured.

Shaking off most of the more impure thoughts, I gently grabbed Risa's hand again and made to start leading her home, "Thanks for spotting me that gold, by the way. Now, about what I was-"

Pulling her hand away from me and covering her face, Risa suddenly cut me off as she began to cry softly. "What do you even want with me? You really don't know me, do you?"

I sighed at what was probably my own idiocy and slowly turned back to the grieving woman, wondering how many times the other me had made this woman cry. "Ka-I mean...uh...Risa? I'm...really sorry about all this, but we do need to talk."

Ouch...who'd have ever thought I'd ever utter _that_ kiss of death to any good mood?

Most of her face still covered, she shook her head and looked up at me with those hauntingly familiar eyes. "Answer my question, Joe. Do you...know who I am?"

I leaned against the entrance to a nearby alleyway and swallowed hard before answering, not wanting to cause any more damage but determined to be honest with her. "Not in the way you imagine I should. But...that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Looking up into the sky she shook her head fiercely. "Am I really so easy to just forget? What about your children, Joe?" She then leveled a hopeful gaze upon me and continued. "I saw it in your eyes! You looked just like you did the first time you saw them! You can't tell me-"

I held up a hand to stop her, but didn't attempt to look away from those beautiful green eyes. "You're probably right, Risa. Look...I'm not very good with words at times like this, but what I've decided after meeting you, Delilah, and...well...'me', is that it's more likely that I _had_ to forget you. I'd never walk away from someone I loved unless it was to protect them...or what I think must have happened here. The witch that did this to me told me that I _chose_ to give up my memories...and after seeing that there was another me out there already living that life…"

Her eyes still wet with tears, but now shining with a glint of understanding, she began to nod slowly, "This...would be a lot easier if I didn't believe you, or if I hadn't been listening to you for so long that this all makes perfect sense to me." She then smiled as she dried her eyes. "You're so unintentionally sweet sometimes that I have to wonder if you do it on purpose."

Seeing how quickly she turned her mood around was a bit of a shock that threw me right off my guard. "That was sweet? I...sort of thought you'd hit me again."

Her smile turned to a smirk as she punched me in the arm. "Happy?" Taking a deep breath, she then took a step back away from me. "And I guess…no-nevermind."

With her look turning almost devious as she trailed off, I tried to probe a bit into what she was actually thinking. "Wait. You guess...what, exactly?"

She sighed wistfully as she leaned against the building across the small alley from me, looking back at me as she crossed her arms. "First...I'm sorry if you got the wrong idea about me from my fighting with Meryl. But, what I was going to say is that...even though we sort of shared you before, I know Meryl would never let you wander too far from her side now. I get it...and it's hard to blame her, knowing the sort of choices you'd probably make without her telling you what to do..."

Ouch! Was that payback for me having said "we have to talk" moments before?

There were really only two possibilities here to explain why Risa seemed to be suddenly insulting me. Either she didn't really know me at all...or she knew me far _far_ too well. Those would be thoughts to keep me company later, as the greater measure of reason made to sneak its way out a nearby window.

"Hey! I've made plenty of good decisions without her. I just...happen to like her. Is there some sort of problem with that?" I challenged, realizing that something seemed to have changed in Risa's demeanor, but was completely clueless as to what.

She waved her hands in front of herself defensively. "Whoa, I didn't mean to offend you. You're probably right...Meryl _is_ certainly known to exaggerate. I mean...you don't look like a 'simpering cunt puppet' to me, but you _do_ seem a bit more...passive than I remember…"

That struck a nerve in a large way. Ignoring that even if Meryl really had said such a thing, I doubt she would have told her sister about it...probably.

 _I_ was the one that had to do almost all the work while the bitch-tastic mopey version of me waxed emotional about poor choices while his own life force was fading. If It hadn't been for _me_ , there'd have been a lot more tears at the Panna family reunion.

It...can be excruciatingly painful to be smart enough to know the correct choice to make in a given situation but incomprehensibly stupid enough to see that choice and take the left hand path instead. It wouldn't take hindsight to see how wrong it all was about to go.

"Are you shitting me?! If I hadn't been there, _he'd_ probably already be dead! Even after I explained what was going on, he just wanted to go back to sleep. You think that _I_ am more passive than...than _that_?"

This time she took a step forward with a challenging scowl on her face. "Cut the shit, Joseph. You're staring at a woman that wants you more than anyone else alive, my sister included, and rather than do what I _know_ you want to do, you're going to mewl like a chained cat and then dash back under Meryl's skirt to hide, aren't you?"

"That doesn't even-" I tried to argue, growing even angrier as she continued to simply shake her head.

"You're willing to fight Azalea to prove to her that you aren't a complete tool, right? Fine, big boy-fight me right here and prove the same thing. No tricks, no illusions, and I'm nowhere near as good as Zee on her worst day. If you're even half the man you're pretending to be, you should have no problem beating me-just like always," she taunted, her eyes almost glowing in suppressed...fury?

Risa was nowhere near as big as Azalea and was built even more slender than her sister. My first thought was to argue that Meryl would kick my ass if I ended up beating her sister down on the streets of Alnor. Risa, perhaps by design, had already smothered that argument with her claim that I was incapable of making a decision without Meryl.

The only right answer was to walk away. To move forward was to mire myself even further in the deepening quicksand about my feet. What I should have done was make an excuse, pretend to get upset, storm off, and then talk to Meryl about all of it.

I'm sure what I did instead was at least more amusing to watch.

"Fine! If you want a fight, you're damn well going to get one," I called out, striding deeper into the alleyway and around a corner to a junction that left enough room to move while also being invisible from the main street. "But you're telling Meryl you walked into a door when we-"

I didn't get to finish my sentence as something large and heavy hit me in the back of the head before thumping to the ground at my feet with the sound of jingling coins. Being hit in the head with her pouch started to give me a headache...and not from the impact. I shook it off, however, as I focused back in on the suddenly daunting task before me.

Turning quickly, I barely had time to react to the onrushing blur of pissed danuki hand, clenched in a fist, heading straight for my face.

My reflexes not nearly as rusty as when I'd first begun training with Zee, I still only managed to just barely avoid the full impact of her punch, managing to take a painful glancing blow to the side of my head. At least I was no longer at all concerned about hitting a girl, least of all one that was probably as strong as I was and quite a bit more nimble.

Stepping wide to regain my balance, she drew her unclenched hand back towards her, raking across my shoulder with her long fingernails as she did so, digging painfully into my left shoulder proper as her other hand moved to grab my right.

By the grace of...well...whoever might have been watching, Risa was not at all a skilled fighter and I'd handled this grab about a thousand times before. Before her other hand could reach me, I had grabbed and twisted free the hand already on me while sidestepping and pushing up hard at her elbow, nearly throwing her into the nearby wall. Worried that she might have been hurt as she hit the building face-first, I extended an arm to indicate that we'd done enough.

That would go down on the list of as just one of the many mistakes I made that day.

The impact of Risa's face with the wall didn't even slow her down a single step as she turned to grab my outstretched arm and yanked me off balanced to then powerfully throw me to the ground. There may not have been any finesse or technique, but she was too fast and strong to even attempt to resist, leaving me to do nothing more than try to make sure I didn't fall too hard upon the stone below.

The cobblestones of the the alleyway were far from forgiving as they welcomed me down amongst them, but being thrown to the ground during my daily ass beatings with Zee almost made this feel like home. It was certainly the position from which I had the most recent experience fighting.

With an almost feral growl, Risa dove onto me in what seemed like an attempt to pin me. At the cost of several more drops of blood at the points of her talon-like fingernails, I was able to catch her on my arms and a knee that she took right in the stomach. Even though the impact looked like it might have dazed her, I wasn't taking chances again.

Using the rest of her momentum, I rolled off to the side with her and brought her down onto the cobbles of the alley, quickly rolling on top of her. Still quicker than I, she pulled me down and continued the motion in an attempt to reassert herself, but not before I managed to bring my elbow across her face in the process, stunning her enough to keep her from rolling back on top of me and leaving me on the ground next to her.

Already moving to leap to my feet to try and endure her next onslaught, she caught my robes in her hand, leaving me looking directly into her eyes, the already swelling spots on her forehead and cheek only adding to the fierce look in her eyes.

Perspective is everything. It was hard to say that what I did next was a mistake, though I was certain to be paying for it as though it was.

With the fire in her eyes not dimmed in the slightest, I peeled her grasping hand from my clothing and moved to pin her hands to the ground, somehow managing the feat before she was able to fully react. Pressed against her inhumanly warm body with her hands held above her head, her breath coming hot upon my face as she wore a mask of fury, I threw myself violently against her...and kissed her.

My lips were upon hers for at least a full second before she slapped me hard enough to push my face away. It wasn't the closed fist I was expecting so maybe…

I quickly recovered and attacked again in similar fashion.

The alarm that this had all been too easy suddenly loud enough to hear but now too far away to reach, she didn't hesitate for even a moment at my second attempt, throwing off my grip on her arms, she threw her arms around me and frantically returned my kiss, growling slightly as she then easily rolled me onto my back.

"You lose," she said with a feral glint in her eye.

"That's what you think," I countered, reaching for the only pressure point I could imagine might give me an advantage against a sexually enraged predator.

My sudden move to grab for her crotch was rewarded by her weakening almost immediately and allowing me to push her back onto the ground, the two of us rolling into a stack of wooden crates that loudly clattered and fell around us as I kissed her again, now tearing her clothes off like a man possessed.

Keeping my knee to the ground between her legs prevented her from rolling back over as I leaned forward to grind my leg into the heat of her already waiting sex, hiding desperate beneath her clothes. She had the advantage in having been able to pull me more quickly out of my blood-stained robes before I was able to completely tear her own clothing asunder. It was only a moment, however, before I managed to tear away the last concealing resistance of her attire.

"You think this is...ahhh...going to prove anything?" she moaned as my hand took up the task of mercilessly teasing her already engorged clitoris as my mouth captured one of the nipples crowning her modestly petite breasts.

In answer to her taunt, I bit down-not enough to hurt her, but enough to remind her of the position in which I had her. Even if this had been her plan all along, this was still a fight...of sorts, and she'd made herself vulnerable. I'd have been a fool to avoid taking every advantage, right?

My action blessed with the reward of another growling moan from the squirming Risa, her fingernails dug yet again into my skin as one hand blazed crimson roads down my supporting arm as the other shot between us to indelicately wrap around what she'd probably had in mind all day.

"You even know how to use that th-" she began before I silenced her with another violent kiss.

Biting her lower lip as I roughly continued to tease her, I didn't give her another chance at a retort before I threw my weight against her, using my already positioned hand to find my target as my rampant erection sluiced it's way into her, not stopping until I could go no further.

I tried and failed to hold back my own gasp of pleased excitement to feel her shivering passage welcoming me so completely as her mouth dropped open, her eyes fluttering in shock as she stared back at me.

The satisfaction of my initial task sustained me for only a handful of heartbeats before I levered myself up over her and began grinding my hips against the insatiable raccoon girl. After several minutes of teasing against her crumbling resistance, I pulled back further and hooked my arms behind her knees before powerfully pushing forward again, leaving her in an utterly helpless position beneath me-not that she looked to be entertaining any thoughts of escape now. If she wanted this so badly, then I wasn't about to be gentle now.

I gave her only a few seconds to appreciate the moment as her skin flushed scarlet, half in embarrassment and half in a rapidly growing desire.

Not about to let her off the hook for allowing herself to be put into such a position, I wheeled back a bit and then began to fiercely drive into her innermost reaches, colliding repeatedly with the entrance to her womb. As my thrusts grew more forceful upon each entry, she began to gasp and yip in an ecstasy that very quickly overwhelmed her. Long before I was anywhere near my limits, she cut loose in a howling screamed as her body shook in the throes of a powerful orgasm, her breath hissing through clenched teeth as I continued to move with the same ferocious intensity.

While her fingers dug even more deeply into my arms, the pain was thankfully tempered by the convulsively shuddering silken vice that grasped at me in repeatedly vain attempts to halt my pounding invasion. Her head tossed side to side against the hard stone as her cries of joy escalated in the grip of the ecstatic overdose she was weathering.

As the frenzied grip of her voracious cunt intensified, the sounds of our act set off a lewd symphony as the fleshy impact of every plunge into sodden gash was answered in echoes that reverberated through the dirty alleyway. The rising pitch of her voice was like the choir singing to accompany the crescendo of the movement.

My resistance starting to collapse completely, I tightly gripped her thighs where I held them and began to savagely spear myself into her as her eyes searched and stared, but saw nothing beyond the felicitous rapture that ravaged her consciousness.

Just as I neared release, I heard her whimper in broken whispers amidst her cries, the force of each penetrative impact knocking the wind from her. "Y-you...should...n-not inside...I'm-"

Some part of me probably heard and understood exactly what she was trying to say, but the rest of me-and certainly the part that had the helm of this ship-chose to rely on mystical birth control and the state of our unresolved conflict to make the choice on how to proceed.

With her body having gone as limp as a ragdoll beneath me, it would have been difficult to move away in the first place, but the sensations that followed in the next moments made me regret not throwing every ounce of my willpower into the act of trying to do so.

Starting with a familiar tingling shiver that shot up my spine, I groaned in desperation as the wave of my climax passed over me like a paralyzing touch...just before it was accompanied with what felt like a bolt from the heavens themselves, the foreign electricity tearing through me, sending me into shivering spasms of blinding ecstasy. As my boiling seed spilled into the helplessly insensate Risa, her eyes shot open completely before taking on glazed-over look full of inscrutably mixed emotions.

Her hands went flat against my chest, as if she was trying to push me away, but made no effort to expend the strength to do so. Feeling the touch of my release seemed to set her off again...in a way. As she cried out again, her hands then began desperately trying to pull me close to her.

With most of my energy expended along with any anger I might still have had, I released her legs and collapsed atop her, her arms coming around quickly to envelop me in an embrace as my body spent the remainder of itself within her.

It wasn't until that moment that I realized what actually seemed different about her before and the entire time we were fighting-it looked as if her tail had vanished. Couple with the look of exhausted satisfaction on her face, I knew in that moment that she was hiding any number of things.

Expending a monumental effort to do so, I pushed myself up slightly and looked down at her, most certainly appearing quite angry. "Where is your tail?"

She shook her head and refused to meet my gaze as she turned her head away. "It's...you wouldn't understand"

"So this was all just-" I began angrily before she cut me off by dropping her illusive facade completely, her form returning to the one I had seen at the house.

Her face looked no less wounded from our struggle, but her eyes were dark and glistening with tears. "I needed to know...I'm sorry, Joe."

She then pushed me off of her as gently as she could and then silently set about attempting to get the two of us looking at least presentable enough to make it through the streets of the city.

I was angry in a way I couldn't really explain for so many varying reasons. While it wasn't upsetting that she'd so easily been able to get me into this position, the fact that she felt she needed to deceive me hurt. On top of that, I was feeling guilty beyond what I thought possible for the wounds on her face-one of which looked like it could easily turn into a black eye.

"Look, Risa...I just don't even-" I began before she placed a finger to my lips.

"I'll...take the blame for this. You don't have to tell Meryl. It was my fault anyway," she offered as she tried in vain to hold her clothes together in a way that did anything but make it more obvious how badly they'd been torn.

"That's not what I'm worried about-I'm going to tell Meryl, but this...makes me wonder if you really _do_ know me. If you'd just been honest in the first place…"

She snapped back at me almost immediately, "No! Don't you dare say that to me. You aren't allowed to say that! Choosing to forget everything we've been through is the same as lying, Joe!"

I didn't see it that way at all, but then...I wasn't in a position to be staring down someone that was supposed to love me but had forgotten all about it.

"If you know me, then you have to know that making a choice to forget was…" I hesitated, not having any emotional reference point from which to continue with Risa. "This hasn't been easy for me. I tried to avoid anything that might remind me of my old life because I couldn't even be sure that it was really _me_. What if the things I'd been through in that other life had changed me and I wasn't that person anymore? I wanted to just move on, but my old life keeps grasping at me from the darkness, even though I know there's another me that's supposed to be living it."

Getting to her feet, the young Risa took a deep breath and looked down at me, now with eyes of endless sympathy. "I'm sorry, Joe...but you are you. Maybe you're in a bit better-well...a lot better shape, your hair is way too long, and you look like you only stumble into a razor once every other week in a dark room...but all of the things that matter are exactly the same. This isn't easy for me either, but circumstance has made my perfect husband into a terrible father...and seeing you makes me feel like the lords made this happen to give that man another chance to make things right."

"You know I can't-"

She cut me off with a frown. "I know." Her expression then shifted into a weak smile, "Let's just call it even on the deception. You _did_ fuck my husband, after all...and I bet he was just tickled about that. But you'd better not hurt my sister. She's a lot more delicate than she wants everyone else to think. So you'd better be careful, Joe. You fell in love with me once and if my husband didn't consider it cheating to sleep with you, then neither will I."

Turning away slightly I winced at the thought of any more painful encounters like the one I'd just experienced. "So...what, you're going to _try_ to make me fuck up?"

Rubbing her chin as a genuine smile returned, she gently grabbed my hand and began leading me back to her home. "I guess when you put it that way it sounds a bit cruel, doesn't it? Good. You might not be my husband, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind if Del and I kept you locked in the basement while we bring him around on using the rest of his...parts to full effect."

"Are you being serious?" I asked, not able to read her expression at all.

In answer, she softly slapped her fluffy tail against my face as she continued to walk. "Oh, only if things don't...work out with Meryl. She thinks I don't know about all the times she's stuck up for me, and just because she makes me want to tear her face off most of the time doesn't mean I'd ever let _any_ man get away with hurting her."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you I'm in love with her-I haven't known her that long. What I do know about her is that she risked her life to save me on multiple occasions, she's beautiful, passionate...and probably going to kick my ass when she finds out about this." I hesitated a moment as I thought things over a bit before adding, "Eh, it was just sex, right?"

Quickly turning away from me as she continued to lead me by the hand, Risa seemed to shiver slightly as she quietly answered back, "Yeah, that's...all it was."

-

Making our way in the door just before sundown, I half-expected Zee to be in a sprinter's starting pose ready to burst out into the street looking for me. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find her sleeping comfortably on the large sofa within the study.

One down.

I could hear Meryl upstairs, her voice's normal brashness drowned out by the sweetness of the dulcet words of a lullaby she was now singing to the young twins. It hadn't occurred to me until that moment that Meryl would be the type of person to ever want children...but the thought made me realize that there was a lot more I wanted to learn about the fiery vixen.

While Risa left me high and dry on the staircase, scurrying off to prepare dinner (she claimed), I pondered over how to explain everything to my beautiful fox-tailed companion. Figuring that tearing off the bandage as quickly as possible would be the most painless, I quietly walked into the room to see Meryl finishing the task of putting the twins down to sleep.

Tiptoeing over to me, she smiled somewhat cryptically in the darkened room and whispered, "I got the bath ready. Everything okay?"

Rather in the mood to suddenly dive out the window than speak, I was determined to remain firm in my resolve. Certain she could probably smell the sex on me anyway, I leaned in and whispered back, "That'll have to be your call...I had sex with your sister and it wasn't against my will."

She didn't blink as she led me from the room silently, closing the door behind her as I flinched in expectation of what I thought she was going to say. Her expression neutral, she looked me directly in the eye and asked, "And?"

"That's it. I mean...I took care of my business at the market too."

"I mean...do you feel any different, Joe?"

I was getting more desperate to know what she was thinking as she continued to assault me with her blank expression. All I could do was be honest. "I didn't know you had such a beautiful singing voice," I began, instantly realizing that it might have sounded like I was trying to soften a coming blow. "I understand her a bit better, but...I still feel the same way I did before we left. Are you...okay with that?"

"Go take a bath," she began as she headed down the stairs, leaving me in painful suspense before she thankfully turned back to add with a wicked smile, "You were honest...so I'll decide how I feel based on how long you can last with me tonight, my filthy little homewrecker."

Damn, but Meryl knew how to get me worked up like nobody I'd ever met, sending me from a fearful dreading suspense around to a smouldering aroused anticipation in the span of a few seconds.

I slipped into the bath minutes later, hissing as the heat made every single one of the scratches I'd gotten earlier ache in a throbbing testament to the ill-conceived actions I'd taken. Feeling a sense of real relaxation for the first time in a long while, though, I found myself unable to even think about our worrying situation as thoughts of the adorably sexy Meryl took hold.

I'm sure if I lasted until morning she wouldn't be pissed...right?


	26. Chapter 26 - Asunder

Chapter 26 - Asunder

I probably should have been startled by Meryl sneaking into the bath with me, but I didn't even fully react until I felt her sliding up behind me, pulling me back to rest against her. Having that chest pressed against me so often during our…"grappling lessons" had done wonders for reminding me of its shape and wondrous softness as well as making a sizable dent in the stress of the day so far.

Without prompting, I simply began speaking. "She tricked me...and in a way she knew would get to me. I'm long past being able to deny that I lived another life here, but I'm allowed to be bothered by that, aren't I?"

Nuzzling her cheek against my ear as she held me from behind, Meryl whispered, "Which part bothers you? You already fucked the other you...so I figure it has to be that she tricked you."

It wasn't that I was tricked-it was _how_ it happened. Did Risa feel like she needed to trick me to have her way with me? Truth be told, despite my body _quite_ enjoying how it all went down, I probably would have declined a more pleasant proposal with heartfelt-sounding bullshit about faithfulness and memories. Did she know that too?

"I don't even know anymore," I began. "But...she was right about something. Despite a slightly different outlook and memories...I am who I am. If I really did fall in love with her once...what's to stop it from happening again? Aren't you worried?"

She sighed wistfully as she trailed her fingers through the water, pulling a cupped handful up to pour it gently over my bloodied shoulder. "Maybe I like to gamble-scratch that, I definitely like to gamble. Look...I know I'm playing a rigged game. Any day, that seal on your memory could snap for good and I'd have nothing left to do but watch you drift away. If-I mean...before that...if I can…"

It was pretty clear what she was trying to say and, for just a moment, it felt as though the tiny seed she'd planted within me lurched suddenly in response. I wouldn't say what I thought I was feeling until I was certain...but if the feeling took hold any more strongly, no amount of returning memories would ever be able to pull it free.

"If I'd met you first, hmm?" I said with a smile.

"Shut up!" she said as she took a playful nip at my uninjured shoulder. "You aren't allowed to get cheeky when you're still in trouble!"

I relaxed back again into her arms and turned my head slightly. "Well, then I must apologize, Meryl. I can tell that you're not the sort of girl that can tolerate the idea of a man being unfaithful to his mate for any reason, right?"

"Okay, now you're _really_ about to get in trouble here. What did she tell you?" Meryl asked, the playfulness in her voice far more muted.

"Not as much as you just did," I answered with a smirk. "Oh, she also said she wasn't going to stop trying to bed me, so I can only hope this is normal for this family."

"Damn it," she hissed as she pulled me in a bit closer and began to gently lick at my wounded shoulder, making me shiver at the surprisingly pleasant sensation. "Risa managed to slip into the letter she sent me before that mother wanted to meet my mate and there's probably only one way _that_ can go. Fine, my family is a lost cause...but promise me you at least won't start fucking Delilah's family too."

I recoiled slightly at her suggestion, however facetious it might have been. "She's my daughter! I might be perverted beyond reason but even I have limits, Meryl!"

"She has a sister too. And Lorelei isn't related to you by blood, you dumbass," she countered, tensing slightly as she did so...perhaps wondering if she should have mentioned those details.

I leaned back into Meryl again to let her eminently pleasing feminine softness be the push I needed to give the closest thing I could to the correct answer. "I...uh…"

Thankfully saving me from my flailing but still badly startling the both of us, Azalea strode into the room and slid into the bath with little more than a splash and a far-too-tempting glimpse of her beautiful bronze-skinned voluptuousness.

Smiling at the two of us both reddening from the interactions, she let her sable tresses free of the constraining ponytail and threw her arms up over the edge of the bath, obviously happy to be relaxing in the steamy water.

"Best nap I've had in a long time, Joe. Thanks," Zee said with what felt like a suddenly dangerous seductiveness.

"Well, all I had to do was not get kidnapped again and this city seems pretty peaceful if you uh...stay out of the alleyways," I answered, not able to meet her glance.

"I hope it was worth it-you're getting a double training session tomorrow," she remarked with a casual grin.

Ready to piss and moan over my fate, I instead seized upon an extremely important realization about Zee in that moment. I'd asked her to train me, sure...but I know I never told her to force me to keep at it. Regardless which of the two possibilities had led to her taking a more forceful role in my training, the telling fact was that it was a decision she was making on her own. That was a far cry from her being nothing more than a weapon...and the thought sent a pleasant warmth through my center that she was changing, slowly but surely.

"Fine, it'll be a week before my order is ready anyway," I relented, receiving a rare confused look from the salamander as I smiled back at her. "Before that, though...since you're here now, I thought we should talk a little about the shit we're dealing with and how to put a stop to it."

Letting out a sigh laced heavily with sexual frustration, Meryl slid out from behind me and around to the other end of the bath. "Well, it's a lot better and worse than we thought all at once. The good news, thank Amarante, is that it isn't Kaori's retainers-which means I have no idea how they bought the service of that orc. The bad news is that we're dead in the middle of a very large power struggle within one of the larger Teremir merchant guilds."

I leaned back with a slight hiss of pain as unseen wounds on my back pressed against the solid tile. "South Teremir Mercantile? So...which thing that I can't remember caused all this?"

Meryl actually smiled before answering. "Oh, could be lots of things. You certain did plenty...and I doubt they'd ignore someone making those sorts of waves twice. Actually...just thinking about it gets me so-"

"Please don't foul the bath while I'm still in it," Zee quickly chimed in, shaking her head at Meryl's obvious excitement.

Sending a half-angry glance at Zee, Meryl continued, "The first letter was from one of their council members apologizing for the actions of the guild council along with a declaration that if you assist her with getting something, she can personally guarantee that you'll never run afoul of any Teremir guild, or ever want for coin for the rest of your life."

"That's it? I can imagine a lot of ways to spend a _lot_ of coin so she must be pretty loaded if she isn't just trying to bluff. And...she wants me to give her... _something_ , and then I'll never have problems with their organization again? Was she any more specific about what this thing even is? Only one thing comes to mind that all monsters seem to want and there are already a lot of hands in that cookie jar." I responded in faux lamentation, rolling my eyes.

Meryl nodded, of a similar mindset as I on the issue. "No, it was just an invitation to meet at her palace. She claims you already possess what she needs and it'll all be clear once she meets you. Bitch lives _way_ up in the central mountains. There are directions, but they may as well just say 'up' for all the good they'd do us."

"And the other message?"

"Well, it was from the rest of the South Teremir guild council offering to interview you for a potential seat on the guild council if you can handle a particularly troublesome member for them," Meryl answered with a devious grin. "In case you didn't already know, being on that particular guild council may as well be a license to mint your own gold coins."

"It's got to be more complex than that, right? And how do they want me to 'handle' her anyway?" I asked, shaking my head.

Meryl nodded gravely. "It's always much _much_ more complicated if Teremir is involved. To give you some perspective...if you took every single coin I've ever earned and piled it together with everything Risa, Ajora, and my mother ever earned as well, it'd be a bad year for any one of their council members. We aren't anywhere near the same league...hell, we're barely even playing the same game."

Par for the course by this point, a lot of things weren't making sense. I had to assume that Meryl was counting anything I might have done with the markets in with Risa's earnings, so then if I was such a tiny fish in that large pond, what could I possibly have to offer them?

"Does this make sense to you, Meryl?" I asked, not really sure what else to ask.

"Hmm...maybe. I know they took a savage beating from betting against you twice...even with probably the best damn information network on the entire island," she answered with an aroused smile. "Even if you don't have anywhere near their resources, maybe they figure they can do a lot more with your ideas than you'd be able to do on your own."

Zee frowned at Meryl. "My nose isn't even that good and I can smell you already." She then turned to me with a serious look. "I don't like it at all. One or both of them is after you, and buying the loyalty of even a disgraced Kaori general would take a lot more than gold. I'd say that they both feel like a trap, but who's to say that this whole 'power struggle' isn't just a ruse too?"

Meryl scratched at her ears while she pondered a moment. "I've never trusted anyone wearing the Violaceous Regard, and I'm not about to start. What I can't figure out is why they're suddenly moving now. It's been more than a year since they ate the huge losses on those testicles-why wait until...hmm…"

I perked up a bit, slumping back down bashfully as the two other sets of eyes in the bath turned to take an interest. "That witch Mira also knew everything...she had to have been working with the orc and the...uh-"

"Salamander," Zee interjected as she shifted a bit. "Her hands weren't entirely covered. Also, even without seeing her fight, she's definitely good...whoever she is. There's no way an orc like Hilde would have taken orders like that from someone that hadn't proven themselves stronger than her."

"Okay...salamander then. Anyway, even allowing for the witch's magic...what are the chances that anyone else knew that there were two of me running around?" I asked, trying to put some of the pieces together.

"Unless Del told someone...none," Risa's voice called out as she walked in holding the two sleeping twins in her arms to join us in the increasingly crowded bath. "Damn it...that hurts. Did you have to be so rough, Joe?" the tanuki girl quietly hissed as she lowered herself gingerly into the water.

Trying not to pay any undue attention to the lithe, naked girl that had so calmly just joined the conversation, I tried to keep focused. She had good reason to be involved in this anyway. "We've got to be missing something huge here," I began before turning to Karisa to continue, "What could I possibly have that anyone in this guild could want?"

Frowning a bit, Risa shook her head. "I have no idea. If they didn't stop after getting Del, then they must be trying to make sure they can blackmail you if you don't want to hand it over."

"No way," Meryl exclaimed. "No offense, Ris...but grabbing you and Del wouldn't have done a damn thing to persuade someone that didn't really know you.

"Maybe it's something you don't know that you know," Zee added helpfully. "They were still after Karisa, but they let the other you go...so he must not have it. Whatever 'it' is."

"There's also someone that can or has been keeping a close eye on me," I threw in. "Hilde was expecting to fight Zee when she came after me. If they already know so much...why haven't they already caught me? That orc put Zee's friends to task without even breaking a sweat-if she'd attacked on the road, I'd have been as good as taken."

Zee frowned. "I don't know if it was chance or kindness, but my girls are somehow all fine now...but you're right, Joe. This whole thing feels as bad as if that backstabbing bitch of a hopefully-soon-to-be-ex-lord Charisse is pulling the strings."

We weren't getting anywhere with our discussion. On top of that, there could be any of a million things that we weren't considering. It was impossible to know what this guild could want with me or why they'd suddenly change their tactics away from outright kidnapping and assault to...sending two seemingly contradictory letters.

"Okay, since we know precisely fuck all about what we're getting into or how deep any of us might already be, where do we start looking for answers?" I asked as tried to remain unaware that I was completely naked in a bath with three beautiful women, adding, "Or do just throw the gloves off and try to bring this guild down ourselves and pull the answers from the carcass?"

"Yeah, I'm getting out before I end up smelling any more like the inside of these two," Zee offered as she pulled herself from the water, making no effort to cover herself while walking from the room. "Going to drip dry out back."

Swallowing hard while a flush ran across her skin like a brushfire, Risa called after the salamander distractedly, "D-dinner will be ready in another hour or two. I'll...come get you."

A scant few seconds later, both sisters were sliding around the edge of the bath to get closer to me, the look of lust in their eyes unmistakable.

Not quite sure what was happening, I looked at the sisters nervously as I picked up the very distinct aroma of aroused female as I asked, "Uh...what did I say?"

Electing to deliver the first answer in a whisper directly against my ear, Risa whimpered a bit before she spoke. "You...have an idea on how to… _do_ that, Joe?"

I was floundering at the realization that I wasn't at all sure what the right answer was here. Was I about to be assaulted for suggesting something so arousingly stupid?

"Nothing...uh...solid, but I could probably come up with some ideas," I began nervously, adding, "W-why are you both getting so close?"

"Oh we're just...very excited to hear what you might have in mind. Could you give us a hint?" Risa asked as she continued to whisper, the heat of her breath making my body shiver despite the bath.

Finally asserting herself in a way that wasn't entirely unexpected, Meryl reached over and flicked her finger at one of Risa's ears, making the younger girl flinch in pain. "Joe and I need to have a very _deep_ discussion, Ris. I'll be sure to tell you all about it later, so why don't you go feed your girls before they start getting cranky?"

Her face suddenly showing anger, Risa whispered angrily back at her sister, "I just got them to sleep and they aren't that young anymore! Why would they-"

Just loud enough that I could barely hear her, even with her lips nearly pressed again my ear, I heard Meryl lament, "Sorry girls," before reaching over to tickle the feet of the sleeping girls, their tiny eyes opening almost immediately in reaction.

As the pair of them began to fuss in Risa's arms, the tanuki girl cursed under her breath and hopped out of the water with an angry scowl back at Meryl as she began to coo and whisper affectionately to the young girls while she headed out of the room entirely.

"Meryl, that wasn't very-" I tried to begin as the vixen silenced me with a deliberate kiss.

Pulling away from the kiss with my lower lip still caught in her teeth, my foxy mate slid herself into my lap drawing a light hiss of pain from me as she pushed against my battered body. "I want you to look at me, Joe. You know that I'm not my sister, right? Who am I?"

Looking up slightly into her eyes, I saw her wanton desire, her unrestrained affection, and her boundlessly optimistic hope that I would feel the same way for her. Despite all that, I also saw a shivering core of terrified doubt looming omnipresent above everything else. It wasn't until I could see it so clearly that I realized it had always been there...from the very moment she looked up at me from over the edge of that cliff.

Even if I couldn't make myself say something I wasn't entirely convinced was true, being honest with her still wasn't a rejection. I'd never have been able to say what might happen once I got my memory back, but I knew what I felt right at that moment.

I placed a light kiss upon her lips and answered her. "You're...well...my girlfriend Meryl. I can see that you want more than that, but all I can say for sure is that I can't be anything more until I know how I feel for certain. And I know you aren't your sister-I liked you before I even met her."

She looked like she was about to cry as she fervently nodded her head. "I get it, Joe. As much as it hurts, then...I won't force you to-"

This time I was the one pressing the mute button as I pulled her into a warm kiss as she whimpered through sealed lips, her body nearly melting into my arms. "You can force me whenever you want...just because my heart isn't certain doesn't mean that my body hasn't already decided that it wants you like a flower wants the sunshine. So I'll promise you this...no matter what happens-until my dying breath, I will always honor your claim to this body."

Now sniffling in earnest as she nestled her head against my unwounded shoulder, Meryl lamented, "You are such a bastard. When you say that...I just want to squeeze you until I wring all that sweetness out of you...rather than get to squeezing out what I really want."

"Well..." I began with a slight blush of my own, "nothing saying you can't try to squeeze out both, right?"

With a mock stretch, Meryl smiled back at me and quipped sarcastically, "I'm not busy with anything else at the moment so I _guess_ it's worth a try."

Despite the hunger gleaming in her eyes, Meryl began to mercilessly tease me without a moment's hesitation. Standing up in the water next to me, she cradled her generous breasts with a single arm as she pretended to fix her hair with the other.

I watched as the warm water trailed down across her lightly tanned but still fair skin, each rivulet like a transparent dancer's veil in how it accentuated her amazing figure perfectly enough to drive me to maddening arousal just to look at her. Knowing that she could have overpowered me at any moment to take her prize, but was instead choosing to set fire to my reason made the tempestuous fox that much more desirable.

Spinning slightly to further flaunt her delicious curves, Meryl then turned her neck to look down at me with a deliriously lustful glance and gently rested her foot upon my already-solid erection.

"Oh? You're this hard just from looking?" she teased with a mock sigh as she began to flex her toes around my firmness, sliding her delicate toes across my sensitive skin. "What am I going to do with such a perfectly shameless man?"

I shook my head, staying silent in the hopes that Meryl wouldn't stop moving her foot, any thought of actual shame long having been buried beneath mountains of lust.

Quickly reaching my point of no return under the delicate ministrations of her skilled foot, I moaned in surpassing frustration when she suddenly stopped without warning. She removed her foot and cradled my face in her hands, leaning in as if to kiss me. As I craned my neck upward to meet her lips, she answered with a smile and licked the tip of my nose instead.

With a look of blatantly spurious confusion, she cocked her head slightly to the side and asked, "Was that...not what you wanted?" She held her facade for only the span of a few breaths before giggling and releasing my face, turning her body away from me while continuing to hold my gaze. "As much as I want to keep teasing you, Joe...it'll drive me crazy long before you. I hope you're ready."

Turning away from me completely, she spread her legs slightly and bent at the waist pushing her ass almost directly into my face before she began sliding her bottom lower, her only moment of hesitation hidden in the deep breath she took before smoothly and completely engulfing my cock within her overslicked pussy.

"M-Meryl…!" was all I could manage to gasp out as her snug passage held tight around me, playing her heartbeat as a one-drum solo upon my painfully turgid member as it came to rest within her.

Looking back over her shoulder at me, the flushed vixen waved her tail between us before biting her lower lip in determination as she began to move. "I'm n-not going to stop until you've got n-nothing left."

I nodded as I watched, utterly hypnotized by her well-proportioned hips and ass as she began moving at a slow but steady pace. She moaned loudly as her clutching sheath drew me in with repetitively quickening movements, her body going utterly rigid barely a minute later as she swallowed most of a girlish squeal from her first climax.

As her cleft turned to an undulating prison of deliciously clenching muscle, I felt the familiar shiver pass over me only moments later. I grabbed her hips tightly and forced myself against and into her as deep as I could manage while my molten offering tore free of my restraint to force its way deep into my mate, my howling voice echoing off of the marble of the bathing room and back at us.

"Oh-!" Meryl exclaimed, still lost in the throes of her orgasm but spurred back to action at the sensation of my powerful grip. She braced her hands against my knees and threw her hips back at me, gleefully accepting my seed as shot after shot jetted into her deepest recesses.

Far from finished, my alabaster surrender only ignited the fire within her as she grew even more tight and then began bouncing herself atop me, my cries at the overwhelming sensation either going unheeded or having the opposite effect.

"You've...hah...got more, my mate...give it all to me. Don't...hold back…!" she demanded as her body made even more unreasonable, yet irresistible, demands upon me.

What began as a shivering climax had become like a hand gripping the base of my spine to pour electric ice into me as my fingers dug with desperate purpose into Meryl's hips, the smooth but frantic pleasure of the act now broken open into a barefoot walk over broken glass for a hematolagnia fetishist.

My breathing labored as her plunging movements each drove spikes of overpowering pleasure through my entire body, I lost track of how many times Meryl's body seized in spastic tremors, the sweet agony of her shuddering quim rolling over my steeled shaft from from the base to the crown in unending waves.

Again I was overcome, my resistance unable to hold out any longer as my body jerked to rigidness again, my second release painting her clasping gash in ivory as I wildly screamed out, jamming every inch of myself inside of her again as I shook in unapologetic exultation.

Feeling her slow a moment in indecision, I tried, in argument to the continuation of our act, to pull myself free, only to feel her counter-argument as she gripped my legs more tightly and forced herself back down upon me again. "Only...hnn...twice? N-no...more...give me more!" she screamed as she began moving again, more rapidly than before.

Leaning her body even further forward, I could clearly see through the distorting water where her firmly gripping passage teased me with a momentary freedom with each withdrawal only to come down again upon me, each crushing descent an avalanche that drew my strength and essence into her sweet abyss.

"I...can't...take any more…!" I cried out as I struggled to find an escape, sure that my mind would snap long before she could draw anything more from me.

Lost in her own world of being utterly filled by her mate, however, Meryl answered in little more than whorish squeals and moans, tears running down her face as her body joined mine in a failure to process the mental signals from the surplus of the overpowering ecstasy born of our act.

Starting to black out from the coupling of the unrelenting assault and the heat of the bath, I drew ragged breaths through clenched teeth as even my grip on the fox-girl's hips failed, my hands going limp beside me as a slow shiver crawled over me from my toes to the top of my skull.

"You're...so close. I can f-feel it. Just let me have it...just let it go…" Meryl mewled back at me, her stamina fading quickly.

As her movements sent whirling eddies through the bathwater, I used my remaining strength to reach forward and grasp Meryl's shoulders to pull her down fully upon me as she squealed in exhausted delight. Feeling the tentative kiss of her womb upon my glans was the last feeling my body could handle as my final toe-curling climax hit me.

I threw my head back in a broken scream, my voice too hoarse to vocalize the feelings that tore through me like a lawnmower through a patch of daisies. With Meryl answering my scream with one of her own, my cock lurched in the agonizingly pulsating rhythm of my third ejaculation as I spent myself within her rapaciously esurient cunt, the bathwater becoming fouled with our mixed essence as her overfilled nethers failed to contain it all.

Unconsciousness or even death didn't seem outside the realms of possibility that awaited me as I was utterly overcome, my arms pulling my foxy mate tight against me. Through a sheer force of will and some more collected breathing, however, I managed to keep myself from passing out for perhaps the first time while under such duress.

Coming to my sense faster than I would have thought possible, even as my body remained limp in exhaustion, I could feel Meryl's arms wrapped possessively around my neck, her position having shifted at some point in my momentary daze.

"I'll do anything to keep you, Joe...anything. I'm nothing more than a lying smile wrapped tightly around further deception and lies. Even if...even once you remember that I'm just trash...please don't throw me away. Even being near you would be enough. Just let me stay near you and I'd never ask for more than that..." I heard Meryl whisper in a shaking voice still drenched in tears not entirely borne of the soul-clenching ecstasy we'd just shared.

Did she think I was asleep or unconscious? Statistically speaking, I had to admit it was probably a far safer bet than to assume I was awake at any given point in time. As embarrassing as it might end up being for Meryl, however, I wasn't going to let her spill her guts again without letting her know that, at the very least, I was listening.

With no small amount of effort, I pulled the deceptively vulnerable girl tighter against me and let my head rest upon her shoulder, my sudden movement making her recoil slightly.

"Nope. You aren't going anywhere," I assured her as I interlaced my fingers together behind her back, adding, "at least not until dinner is ready."

"Damn it!" she mournfully cursed. "You...should have been out for at least a few hours after that. _I_ can barely even move."

"I can sleep when I'm dead," I remarked playfully. "More seriously, Meryl...don't ever think that you're trash. What would that even make me after you've saved my life so many times?"

Leaning on her shoulder allowed her to keep her face hidden from me, perhaps a small kindness in this instance as I felt her trying to wipe away the tears that did their measured best to continue to flow. She never really answered my question, but it turned out that she didn't have to just yet.

"If you two are done screaming loud enough to wake the twins, the neighbors, and Amarante herself...dinner is ready," Risa suddenly said, peeking her head into the bath with just a hint of a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

-

I didn't want to tell anyone that Risa's cooking might well have been the best thing I'd ever tasted in my life. It was likely written on my face anyway...or blatantly revealed after my fourth helping was devoured as quickly as the first. Taken together with the dark otherwordly wine on offer and it was the best meal I could ever remember having.

Thinking that our overly amorous bath might have freed me from Meryl's earlier promise of punishment, I found that I wasn't entirely disappointed to find that she fully intended to prove my assumption false by having me repeatedly for the rest of the night.

As if that weren't enough, Meryl felt it prudent to apologize for waking up the twins earlier by allowing their fluffy-tailed mother to join in on meting out my punishment.

"Yeah...I can sleep when I'm dead," I remarked in soliloquous silence at the thought of the brutal training that awaited me the moment I awakened...if and when I ever got to sleep in the first place with these ravenous sisters bound and determined to have me in every way my body could handle, and in several that it nearly couldn't.

-

I wasn't at all certain how I'd gotten there, but I was home in Alnor, set comfortably on the soft ground of Risa's garden in our back yard. The pain of my impending non-existence was gone, replaced with...something foreign but still familiar, but otherwise defying any description.

Fear nearly overcame me as I thought on the fact that I now had a completely different soul within me. How could I really know that I was still me? I looked up at the window to my bedroom and brought to mind just a small slice of the many wonderful memories that had been born there and the litany of songs that ran through my head in that moment. With each song a potent mnemonic device, everything seemed to reassuringly match up correctly in my head.

It wasn't an easy thing to explain, even to myself. Until I'd experienced the feeling of having no soul, it would have been impossible to even distinguish the feeling of the soul now burning within me. While my head somehow felt like a phone booth with one too many people trying to make a call, it wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest.

Desperate to see my daughters before doing anything else, I smiled as I realized that my wings now seemed to be fully functional, easily carrying me to the ledge outside their room. Ready to steal my way inside, my attention was drawn away by the unmistakable sound of my wife crying out with the all too familiar shout of her sexual bliss.

Shaking my head at the thought of my nearly insatiable danuki giving her fingers a workout, I flitted instead to my own bedroom window to see the greatest challenge to my reality playing out before my eyes.

It wasn't that I saw my wife with another man but that _this_ man's existence made mine utterly obsolete. Of course...why should my wife have to settle for a demonic copy of a husband with a borrowed soul when she could have the genuine article-memories or no? He was still me...and I couldn't imagine a scenario in which he wouldn't fall madly in love with her...exactly as I had.

It was...just sex, right? That thought couldn't hold back my tears at the realization that even while I had become an immortal piece of this world...the only place I wanted to spend that eternity had crumbled to ash in my shaking hands.

Sneaking finally into the darkened room of my children, I stared longingly down at their angelic sleeping faces as I rocked back and forth on my feet in a growing despair to know that the other me-the _real_ me would almost certainly end up being the father I had already failed to be.

Even if I knew who I was supposed to be, each of those memories was now like a dagger shoved into the dwelling of my new soul itself. What was left for me to do...except to find a way to forget? I knew my mind, however...and enough about magic to know that no sorcery built upon logic could ever fully hold down the chaotic tide of a mind so miswired that it took pharmaceutical-grade stimulants to calm it.

"Fa...fa…" I heard a tiny pair of voices call up to me as two sets of arms reached up toward me, the gesture begging for a closeness that would have been painful to answer...but impossible to ignore.

I leaned close and peppered the faces of my daughters with dozens of kisses while their tiny hands clung to my face, unintentionally wiping away my tears as the pair of them cooed softly in an innocent joy that knew nothing of the pain and helplessness that spun within me in a roiling miasma of crushing doubt and loss of purpose.

The warmth of their unconditional love took only a heartbeat to remind me that my pain didn't matter, throwing the curtains wide to let the rays of hope stream into my darkened heart. What DID matter was that, without reservation, I loved my family...and I was going to see them protected at any cost...even if that cost meant the only place I'd ever see them again was within the vault of my memories.

I knew precious little about what was going on, but I was a demon-a mamono to my core, despite any lingering physical reminders of the man I was before. With the highly morphic body of the succubus I'd become, what was stopping me from becoming a mighty sorceress or an invincible sword princess?

As the gears in my mind began to furiously spin over possibilities, I thought on what had happened so far. Getting Del out of the way could only have been but a prelude. This wouldn't stop with just her or me. How fortuitous, then, that I no longer had anything left to lose. As my misdirected fiery rage became an unbreakable cold determination in those silent hours that night, I knew what I had to do.

Whoever was behind this had no fucking idea what they'd unleashed...but they were damn sure about to find out.

"Auri...Ari...daddy has to go, but I promise I'll always be by your side. No matter where you go, what you do, or who you become...your daddy will always love you both."

"You aren't staying?" an unfamiliar voice asked softly in the darkness, the scant light of the starlight reflecting off of polished steel and the weak smouldering fire of the salamander's tail the only light in the room that let me clearly see the figure as she advanced upon me slowly. Cautiously coming close enough to see me, she sighed as she added, "I don't think we've actually met. I'm Azalea-Zee is fine. I know what it looks like over there, but your wife still wants you, Joseph."

Reluctantly pulling away from my beautiful daughters with a kiss upon the forehead of each of them, I pulled the blanket over them and silently stroked their tiny heads for nearly an hour before they finally returned to sleep.

Astounded at the patience this salamander, Azalea, was showing me, I offered her a small smile of thanks as I finally whispered my answer to her statement. "I believe you. Thank you for watching over my girls...I didn't even hear you coming."

She sheathed her weapon and gently placed one of her scaled hands on my shoulder. "You're dodging the issue here. We're trying to figure all of this out and these two girls aren't the only ones that know you belong here."

I looked the woman up and down, nodding in approval. "The real me is a lucky man...I'd definitely be all about getting a piece of you. Anyway...I need you to do me a favor, Zee."

"Oh, he isn't that lucky. I'm not as easy as your wives and sister-in-law," she said with a smirk and what might have been a slight blush. "I already know what you'll ask if you aren't planning to stay, so just take these. I could stop you from leaving, but...I don't know if that's the right decision," she said as she placed a pair of scrolls in my hand. "Just be careful...especially if you fight as badly as the other you."

With nothing more to be said, I spared one last look back at my beautiful daughters and leapt back into the night, not looking back again.

Seeing the contents of the scrolls gave me a target. Regardless of their reasons, I would see the South Teremir Mercantile torn to pieces if it was the last thing I did. The more powerful they were, the less likely any other organization or individual would ever seek to harm my family again after watching that guild's destruction.

Despite being able to fly, I may otherwise have been nothing more than a scrawny demon cosplayer. I needed power to have any hope of standing against them.

As I wandered through the Alnor harbor district, I ran through the memories I'd picked up from Del's mind during our sessions with that damnable silver artifact. Foremost among the names of the authors of those many sorcerous tomes stood two that were eminently more prominent than the others.

The first name that shot to mind was "Durand" or "Durande" as she was sometimes known. Puissant in brilliance beyond any other magical author Del had ever read, the potential progenitor of lichdom itself had developed and expounded upon theories pertaining to nearly every conceivable school of magic. The histories never said what happened to the ancient witch after the construction of her phylactery nearly 5,000 years ago.

Even if I could find the legendary spellbinder alive, I could come up with no reason why have any reason to teach me anything, and attempting to collect every one of her writings was a task so daunting that there are legends of Michiko scholars that gave up thousands of years only to come up short on assembling an entire collection.

The other name burned my tongue just to utter. "Wormtongue," I whispered as I thought back to her oft-seen writings as well. Far more like a mad scientist in her theories that sought out magical effects that defied a logical understanding of the universe-even one filled with magic. Far mysterious than Durand in her methods and reasons, her nearly incomprehensible ramblings were full to bursting with brilliant formulations that appear almost accidental in their perfection.

Wormtongue was know to be alive _and_ to honor unique requests such as the one I had to beg her to teach me. The rumors claimed that she'd taken on students in the past, that she could blink her way to any place on the island at the barest whim and was possessed of more strange powers and forbidden magic than nearly any denizen of the island save a lord. The only information I'd been able to gather about her, however, suggested that she'd last been seen in Charisse, was partially deformed, and always-

"Makes a unique request of any that seek to gain my favor or assistance," a voice whispered in my ear, completing my thought as though I'd been speaking aloud.

I nearly leapt out of my shoes as the voice crept across my mind as teasingly as her breath seductively tickled my ear. The voice was impossible to place despite sounding vaguely familiar...as though I'd heard it in my dreams.

Looking around, I didn't recognize any of the buildings around me...or had any memory of how I'd gotten to this part of Alnor in the first place-assuming I was even still in Alnor.

"Can you teach-" I began as the unseen figure covered my mouth.

The voice spoke again, alien and distant, in my ear. "Teaching you would be a waste of time. You've chosen an opponent that is beyond you-beyond me. You should leave this in fate's hands, Joseph."

I was paralyzed-utterly unable to move or even turn around to see the woman that held me immobile with the lightest of touches. I countered her suggestion. "The same fate that left Del alone and suffering for thousands of years, that forever scarred my face along with my heart...that stole my soul from me just as sure as it will steal my own family?!"

She took an uninterested breath before speaking again. "If you will not be swayed from the path of your own destruction, I can make you but one single offer. Will you pay the cost?"

"What are you offering?" I asked, still far beyond my depth at how I even entered this conversation in the first place.

"You will not hear my offer until you understand the cost," her voice, drenched in a resigned hostility, began, sounding like an entirely different person. "For this boon I will take your life, the agony of your last thoughts nothing more than the knowledge that our bargain has been struck."

"What are you offering?" I asked again, caring little for the cost.

"I can, but once, turn the Violaceous Regard from your companions to unmake the fate that would see them undone by your enemy," she offered, her voice heavy with sadness.

"So...one time when they're all about to die, you'll make it not happen?" I asked to clarify.

"From your perspective, that is exactly what will happen."

"Done," I answered without hesitation.

"You will hear no apology from me for your sacrifice or for the pain you are about to feel."

As she finished her statement, I felt a piece of cold steel press painfully against my neck, only determining that it was a knife in the moment before it was drawn fully and deliberately across my throat.

Held up in her grasp as I began to choke on my own blood, I could only pray that my sacrifice would earn my family the chance to survive all of this. It was only a matter of time before the real me recovered those lost memories...and once he did, this sacrifice wouldn't matter.

Try as I might to be content with that, I still struggled madly against the paralysis that gripped me...convinced that I had just made a horrible mistake-that there had to be some other way.

"I will give you no comfort, Joseph. There is always another way. Magic...is a beautiful thing. If you are wise, you will reflect upon that in your next life," her voice whisperingly hissed to my fading consciousness as my body was dropped, already too numb to feel the impact as I crumpled to the ground.

As the life's blood left the once-man, the darkness rushed in to fill the void left within the poor corrupted demon that was once called "Joseph", even fate balking slightly at its own cruelty.


	27. Chapter 27 - Stoking the Flames

Chapter 27 - Stoking the Flames

After a night that seemed determined to never end, the only way to know that I'd gotten any sleep at all was that I was eventually startled awake by Zee's gentle shaking. I wasn't nearly as tired as I assumed I'd be after being subjected to Meryl and Risa's game of "Oh yeah? I bet you can't make him moan like _this_!" At the last scoring tally, all I knew was that I'd lost the game...along with inhuman (and probably unsafe) quantities of bodily fluids..

Negotiating my way clear of a sea of limbs that acted as if they'd been tasked with holding me captive forever, I finally managed to flop my way, naked, onto the painfully hard marble floor. I had to keep reminding myself that this was all for a good cause or my normal morning crankiness might have easily escalated into the sort of angry outburst that burned bridges...with extreme prejudice.

It was by no means a _light_ start given the pace with which we set out, but a brisk jog around the city with Zee seemed an otherwise perfect warm up. The other beneficial upswing was that it allowed the two of us to have some (I felt) much-needed conversation.

My mental fogginess still impenetrable so early, Zee started things off. "I didn't think there was any way you'd get up today without _some_ profanity. Almost ruins the fun."

Already into a good rhythm with my jogging, I shook my head and looked over at Zee. "I'm not even that tired-I mean...I AM tired...just not physically. Another week of this and I might just be ready to bring you down, Zee."

She smiled at my statement but was otherwise silent for several minutes as we passed by the harbor, the cool dawn mist glimmering like gems as the first hints of sunlight because to peek above the horizon.

When Zee finally spoke again, it was with a definite note of concern. "I met that _other_ you last night, you know."

"He's back? Good, he can have his bed back and I'll start sleeping downstairs...maybe he can keep his voracious wife off of me. One fluffy tail is about all I can handle."

"I...don't think so. He left after saying goodbye to the twins. I'm pretty sure he saw you three going at it...but there was definitely something else on his mind," Azalea answered with some definite reluctance coloring her voice.

"Hold on, Zee. What do you mean he 'left'? We could have really used him to help clear some things up!"

The troubled salamander looked away as she continued to jog alongside me. "If it was the wrong call to let him go...then I'm sorry. I've just...never seen that sort of determination in anyone's eyes before...and I've watched a sphinx fight to the death to protect her cubs."

Even if she hadn't made it a point to do so, Zee had just clearly pointed out that she'd never seen such determination in me. That just meant that I was a long way from understanding how important my own family-my own children-might be to me. I'd just have to ask him the next time I saw him to try and explain that feeling to me.

Suddenly not quite sure how to respond, I remained silent a moment before giving a response. "I can be dumb, but I doubt he'd just go off and get himself killed...not with a family waiting for him to come home."

"Hey Joe, this is probably going to sound weird, and I swear...if you give me shit about it...I'm going to beat your ass today even worse than I was already planning, but..." she began expectantly. Hearing no protest from me, she continued, "Have you thought about what you'll do if you actually manage to win our challenge?"

There was no trace of lascivious intent in her voice, so I could only assume she meant beyond simply claiming my prize. I hadn't expected to find myself flushing far beyond the physical exertion would suggest at hearing such a question, however.

"Honestly? I have," I said as I looked over at her. "Zee, you know I want you...and it isn't just your body...even though I wanted _that_ from the first moment I saw you. At no point did I ever think this was going to be a 'hit it and quit it' arrangement. I'm not sure how you feel about the whole harem thing, but-"

"It's fine, Joe. I know who you are and I don't want you to change. I'm bringing this up because I guess I underestimated the effect you were going to have on me. So I want to be honest about a few things," she offered with only a neutral glance my way. "The training I've been putting you through wasn't really supposed to help you get better...it was supposed to make you give up."

Breathing harder from the exertion of the run, I shook my head with a small chuckle. "Well that wasn't ever going to happen. Maybe it looks like willpower or something to you...but the reality is that I'm just too stubborn to ever admit when I might be wrong. Now, with everything I've been through, you'd have to kill me to get me to give up...and after seeing the demon me running around, death might not even be enough to stop me," I remarked with a smile. "And that training has helped quite a bit, Zee."

"I know it has. I just...need to know what I am to you. Nothing will change if you tell me I'm just your bodyguard and a sexual target. That was the contract...and I know I'm the one looking to change up the rules."

Nothing to that point had given me even the slightest inkling that Zee felt anything special for me. Was it something that passed between her and the other me? I think, at the least, it was clear that things were going to start getting more dangerous. Maybe she was just worried that something might happen to one or both of us.

I took a deep breath as I kept up my pace. "So what if I said I _do_ want more, Zee? Does it matter? You seemed pretty convinced that I'd never be able to beat you in the first place."

Zee grumbled slightly under her breath. "You're an asshole for making me say this, Joe. I wouldn't have backed out of our deal either way, but I _want_ you to want more." She then sent her gaze skyward. "And...your body has just about caught up to your head. You wouldn't beat me in a fight to the death, but there's no way I'm going to be able to stop you from scoring a real hit on me, and soon."

Ready with my response, I realized that I'd been holding my breath (or the closest possible analog I could manage while running). "One week, Zee. I'm not going to lose. Maybe afterwards you can see how good I can be when you're _actually_ teaching me how to fight."

"You aren't _that_ close, Joe," she shot back with a smirk. "But I'll accept your challenge any time. And hey…" She hesitated before continuing. "I'll start getting serious about teaching you too. Also...if it ever seems like I'm really in trouble, I don't want you to...actually, never mind. Just don't die on me and I won't die on you."

Finally slowing down as we reached the gate to Risa's home, I turned toward the rising sun. "We've all had a bit too much sadness, I think. No...we're all going to make it through this alive...whatever the cost."

-  
-Elsewhere

"This is not good," Mira remarked as she stared into her scrying device. "Wormtongue is the last person I wanted getting involved in this. She's got more tricks up her sleeves than scales on her ass."

The floating specter of Delilah faded almost entirely from view for several moments, then turning her blazing violet eyes slowly upon the witch. "Wormtongue is dangerous and unpredictable. You may need to take more aggressive measures to acquire your master's targets before anyone else is drawn into the situation."

Mira adjusted her oversized hat and stared back into the scrying pool as the half-deformed Wormtongue, standing over the body of the aberrant succubus, Joseph, looked directly at the witch and smiled. "Damn it!" Mira exclaimed as she quickly halted the scrying spell, adding, "If I want your opinion, lich, I will ask for it. No, I will hold close to the original plan. I can't risk Durand discovering my true intentions before everything is ready. If that snake is true to her word, she may even end up an ally in this."

"I have revised my judgment. The Regard has eyes everywhere and there is little hope that your treachery will be able to evade her notice for long," Delilah offered plainly. "You still have nothing that will convince this Joseph to come to you willingly."

Flashing a confident smile, Mira walked right through Delilah's spectral body as she headed out of the ritual chamber. "The danuki and her children are nearly in hand. Once I have them...I need only have the seal on his memory removed. So...on the contrary, lich, there is nothing that will _stop_ him from coming willingly to me."

From within her voluminous hat, Mira produced a small crystal globe that appeared to contain a small grassy hill adorned with a cypress tree. It appeared as little more than a snowless snowglobe to a casual observer. Looking the small artifact over with a serious eye, she quickly shoved it back into her magically bottomless chapeau and out of sight.

Something in the lich's demeanor had shifted but Mira could scarce recognize the change...or understand how grave the consequences of that change truly were.

-

The week of combat instruction that followed was brutal enough to make me long for the far simpler times of simply being dragged through the desert. The difference, however, was that Zee had become an entirely different person with respect to the training.

She certainly wasn't any more forgiving of my mistakes, but rather than just painfully pointing them out by demonstration, she had begun to offer solutions and suggestions to help fill in the (many) gaps in my fighting style.

Pushing me away after a particularly heated exchange, she shook her head. "Look, I know almost every mamono you fight is going to be stronger than you, but you can't be so afraid of getting close or even taking the fight to the ground if needed. Sure, leverage probably won't be enough to help you against a dragon or an ushi-oni, but if you're fighting one of those alone then you've got much bigger problems already."

"What's an ushi-oni?" I asked, not familiar with the term but curious to know what sort of monster she might group with a dragon in describing a quintessentially uphill battle.

"Oh...you seemed so familiar with so many different mamono species I figured you'd know," she began as she took a few hopping steps back and turned back to face me. "Actually, you've seen one before-one of the guards serving that ryu that tried to execute you. I knocked her out before she could get going...and for good reason. An ushi-oni is a type of spider...just a lot less polite than their sisters. They're damn near unstoppable, completely ravenous, and able to bounce back from just about anything that doesn't outright kill them. If you ever have the bad luck of seeing one at the other side of a battlefield, blunt force to the head is your only real option if you don't have a grandmaster pyromancer in your pocket. I'd say to just run if you ever see one, but you aren't fast enough to get away from one either."

"That uh...doesn't seem very fair," I complained.

"Well, they aren't the brightest so you could maybe try to bullshit your way free. It's probably better if you just make sure to scream for me before it gets that far," she said without a trace of arrogance.

"Yeah…" I answered as my mind wandered to thoughts of just how many different types of mamono were really out there. Hadn't I seen an encyclopedia of them at some point? I couldn't quite remember where I'd seen it, but I was wishing I'd spent at least a bit more time going over it.

-

On the third day of training, I found myself trying to follow Zee's advice to be less afraid of a grappling situation. That advice, however, saw me with a painful concussion after my misguided attempt at a wrist lock opened me up to repeated tail slaps to the face. Once I'd regained consciousness, Zee began helpfully detailing ways to help bind a tail like hers in a grapple.

With Zee having started to actually instruct me, I was becoming more and more aware of the ridiculous gap between our respective skill levels. Such was to be expected given her more than seven hundred years of combat experience, but even if I was never going to match her in skill, her instruction was opening up my mind to dozens of new possible avenues of attack and defense.

More than just being a skilled fighter, Zee was an amazing teacher. Her uncanny perception and insight allowed her to explain techniques and movements in ways that I intuitively understood with minimal actual practice. It was, however, quite a bit more humbling to experience her still effortlessly defeating nearly everything I tried even after helping me perfect such techniques.

Zee had also been very subtly teaching me to rely on my natural quickness, and it was definitely coming into focus that my speed was the key to any victory over her. Despite further improvements to my fighting from heavier reliance on my only obvious advantage, she'd still been easily able to use superior experience and inscrutably superb tactics to almost entirely put that brakes on that approach. I was, however, finally starting to see why she felt that it wouldn't be long before I was able to land a strike upon her and actually draw blood.

The end of each training day was when I got a chance to go all out against Zee in an actual match. If I'd been a betting man, I'd have made a killing betting against myself...disappointing given how much I'd improved. She was right in that it was going to take a lot more than a week to land a telling hit on her...assuming I hadn't still been planning to cheat, of course.

I think she knew that I had something special in mind, but that was thankfully the one enigma she wasn't able to puzzle out in the process of (hopefully unintentionally) humiliating me in each of our duels.

Even though I'd planned to cheat from the start, I wouldn't have been able to be completely satisfied if I didn't give it my all at least once. During the second-to-last day of training that week, I resolved to do exactly that, pushing myself much harder than normal while attempting to change my approach and movements in varying ways in hopes of catching any advantage I could. If that was to be our last duel before I became a filthy cheater, I wanted to see how close I could get to a legitimate victory.

-

"Nice!" she exclaimed as she threw her shoulder into to me, just barely far enough inside my guard to avoid my short thrust.

Having expected the attack, I was able to roll with the impact and come up into an extended stop thrust to keep her from exploiting my position. Her smile, thankfully, gave away her next move as she reached to grip my blade. What would have pulled me straight onto my face only a few weeks ago was avoided as I leapt back with a fierce upward clearing slash.

Zee wasn't about to let me back off my heels, however, as she avoided my slash and closed the slight distance between us and made a quick horizontal slash of her own. I was just barely able to set myself and catch my balance enough able to roll forward under it, taking a swipe of my own as I passed beneath her weapon...only to be countered with a swift kick to my midsection. My strike _had_ connected with Zee's scaled leg, but with nowhere near enough power to penetrate.

I came up out of my roll while trying to reclaim the wind that had just been kicked out of me, leaning into a quick defensive jab in a failed attempt to put her off balance, then spinning the longer of my two weapons into a reverse grip and stepping quickly toward Zee. Having been in this position enough times before, I knew that Zee didn't need her falchion in the slightest and I was almost certainly going down in less than three moves, despite being otherwise well-positioned inside her guard.

Quickly kneeling, I aimed to bring my primary weapon down into her foot as I made a weak thrust over my head with my offhand weapon in an attempt to catch the expected elbow or tail strike. To my great surprise, her expected movement stopped before any such strike came as she pivoted around her lead foot to set her stance perpendicular to my own.

It wouldn't be a full swing, but from her shifted stance she was going to have enough room to bring her blade to bear upon me in any of a dozen ways in less than a heartbeat. I made the only move I could imagine at that point, sliding myself into a parallel stance with my lead foot behind hers as I unleashed a punch at her face with the intricate hilt of my rapier-like weapon, the blade still pointed toward the ground with my reverse grip.

Completely at the mercy of her tail in that position, my desperation attack was unlikely to have connected with any real power behind it and I knew it. My goal, however, was to see if something entirely unexpected would throw her off.

Rather than try to have my punch connect with any force only to have her spin with the blow and damn near take my head off with a tail swipe, I let go of Tizona mid-punch, throwing the sword from my grip to hopefully serve as a distraction, using my freed hand to push on her leading shoulder in the opposite direction she would have needed to turn to smack me with her tail.

Against a less skilled opponent, I might have been able to bind her arm and go for a lock using my dagger as a fulcrum on the tricep pressure point. With Zee, however, that maneuver would have bought me less than a second before she took any of a dozen actions to snatch back the entirety of my temporary advantage.

Taking the most unexpected action I could fathom that might have been of any use, I then powerfully drove my offhand dagger toward my own hand. I reasoned that there was no way she'd be expecting me to pierce my own hand to get to her.

With my lead foot positioned to limit her movement options, her only obvious options were to let me pin my own hand to her shoulder, drawing blood from both of us, to try to outspeed me with a risky sidestep that might not get her out of the way in time, or to take control with a grab or shoulder check-making it likely that my dagger would find a home in her forearm or shoulder.

I saw in her eyes that it would have worked...which made it that much more disappointing when it just...didn't.

As her clawed hand was already on the way to assert her power and bend me around my own spine, her foot sliding to pull me entirely off balance, my dagger was still moving quickly enough and with enough force to put the blade through her scaled arm. Just before my weapon connected, however, a completely unexpected burst of flame from her tail forced me to hesitate.

The fight was over seconds later as I was painfully pulled into a full split before being pushed unceremoniously onto my back, a kick to the chest moments later sending me into a violent tumble across the ground. While it most certainly would have earned a rather fervent concession from me, my painful ragdolling across the ground was blatant enough in reporting the outcome that it saved me the trouble of having to tap out...as was so often the case when fighting Zee.

Several pained coughing minutes later, Zee was pacing back and forth with an unfamiliarly troubled look on her face. The salamander's tail, while not burning as brightly as it had in the moments before I'd almost struck her, was still actually aflame. While the flame was still diminutively anemic, it was still glowing more brightly than I'd ever seen it.

Levering myself into a seated position on the ground, I looked up at Zee. "Uh...you okay?"

With some mix of confusion, excitement, and worry, she stopped her pacing and looked down at me, stepping over and pulling me to my feet. "Joe...what the hell was that?"

Turning away somewhat bashfully, I scratched my head. "It was a stupid idea, right? I thought I'd try something you wouldn't expect, but I guess you saw it coming anyway."

Now looking confused, she stared hard at me. "What are you talking about? If you hadn't hesitated, you'd have put your dagger straight through my arm...or right into my shoulder. You might have left a pretty nasty hole in your hand, but you'd have definitely gotten my blood. Why did you stop?"

"Your tailed sort of flared up and...well...I hesitated. I've never really seen you do anything like that before so I didn't know what to expect. For all I knew, you were winding up unleash a fire spin or flame crash on me. You mean that wasn't intentional?" I asked, starting to get discouraged at how close I'd gotten see my best chance vanish because of my own hesitation.

She turned away quickly and grabbed her tail, her body angled strategically to hide it from me. "This is...just something that happens...at times. I also didn't really think it'd ever happen again. But no, it wasn't intentional."

I smirked. "So then...you want to give me that one on a technicality?"

Zee then did something I never would have expected, hitting me playfully in the chest as her bronze complexion darkened ever so slightly in a blush as she jokingly replied, "Try asking your next real enemy if she'll just fall down for you because you _almost_ got her. No, the good news is that I'll stop holding back so much with you, Joe. But that...was really good."

"That's bullshit and you know it. I know you were holding back at first but we both know you've been going all-out for a while now," I countered.

Sliding her falchion into the sheath on her back, Zee took a seat leaning against the wall of the house. She then drew out her kiseru and easily lit it with her now more radiant tail. Taking a long pull, she then held up her clawed right hand and looked over at me with a genuine smile. "I guess that's true if you ignore that I'm only fighting with one weapon, I'm not left handed, and...that I don't want to kill you. The healer said I should be fine to start using my spear again in a couple days so you've still got a long way to go, Joe."

I wanted to smack myself in the forehead at the realization that she'd basically been fighting me with one hand tied behind her back. "Oh come on! I already came up with the perfect plan to win our challenge. Now it's going to take forever to even have a chance again."

Zee continued to smile, now looking sympathetic. "Don't be overdramatic. You're getting better at a very surprising rate. You could easily pull it off in another three years...two if you're lucky. If you want it so bad, that should be nothing."

Maybe to Zee, two years was nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Not only was that a far larger demand upon my limited lifespan, but it was also probably beyond the capacity of my patience to handle Zee's increasingly arousing torment.

My plan had just become a lot more desperate.

I crossed my arms and shot her my best look of supreme determination. "In two years, you'll have been my woman for seven hundred and twenty eight days, Zee."

Zee stood immediately and pushed me against the wall of the house. Her voice came forth in a whisper that was equal parts threatening intrigue and dangerous arousal. "Is that a fact, Joseph?"

Despite her larger frame looming over me and the overpowering predatory manner of her entire bearing, I unflinchingly met her gaze. "That's a fact, Azalea. I'll have your blood tomorrow."

A slow grin spread across her face as her silvery steel eyes bored into me. I again saw her tail flare a bit brighter for just a moment. "That fire in your eyes is something else, Joe. Part of me really hopes you make good on that." She stopped for a moment to look me up and down, poking her claw painfully at my chest. "Fine. You have one last chance with me at a disadvantage. I'll give you tomorrow. After that…"

She trailed off as she turned and headed back into the house. As she walked away, she deliberately dragged her tail against my thigh, as much a promise as a taunt as the sinuous appendage showed a far less violent side than the one to which I'd become accustomed. While the weak flame didn't burn my skin, their heat ignited a far different blaze within me.

Was it really so bad that nothing was beneath me toward the end of getting _her_ beneath me?

I wanted Zee...and by the lords, I was going to have her.


	28. Chapter 28-Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Chapter 28 - This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

-Elsewhere-

"Wake up, stripling. There is much to do and precious little time in which to do it. Our enemy is already on the move." The voice was no less powerful in its authoritatively knowing manner for the jagged rasp that edged it. Following the command was one of a far more physical nature in the sharp echo of an open hand on flesh.

"Ow! What the hell?! That hurts!" a more timid voice called out at the smack that was wholly more annoyance than true pain. "Wait...where am-?" the woman began, her expression falling in dismay as she beheld the source of the demand.

Peering down at the confused girl was the half-deformed face of the echidna that some rumors claimed could wield the hand of fate itself. The few individuals that had ever spoken of laying eyes upon her had all seemed changed from the experience.

Always carrying herself with poise and radiating an aura that was equal parts inscrutable secrets and overwhelming arcane power, the ancient echidna, Wormtongue, was unforgettable.

The human-like half of her looked as though it was the mold from which all sensuous fantasies about the female form originated. With full breasts that hung only low enough to enticingly lead the eyes across the gentle slope of her midsection and across the swells where her wide hips began. From those well-proportioned hips on down, her monstrous heritage was made visibly manifest in the powerfully sinuous snake-like tail covered in well-tended viridian scales.

Her face was a vision of sultry femininity; unblemished olive skin held a pair of striking green eyes, as full of curiosity and intelligence as of conniving secrets and obscure knowledge, while her slightly upturned nose and full pouting lips served as the finishing strike on any potential mate...or so it would have been.

Half of Wormtongue's face and neck were horribly disfigured. It looked to most at first glance as nothing more than horrible burn scars. The more perceptive or determined observer, however, would see that that side of her face looked like it had been smeared as wet paint on canvas might, or wiped from existence entirely. While her good eye still shone a bright green, the other looked as a silvery pale metallic orb with only the barest hint of a white iris. Rather than hide her deformation behind her long, fiery red tresses, Wormtongue seem to delight in the looks of horror she drew on the rare occasions she interacted with another person.

Some argued that her silver eye saw the strands of fate. Others argued that it saw the past or the future...and in some tellings, both at the same time. All that was known, however, was that she saw _something_ with her dead eye and most people found meeting her gaze entirely too unnerving to speculate further.

Among those that had seen her, there were as many wildly speculative opinions about her condition as there were tickle parties in the lifetime of an average imp. Some argued that she'd been born that way, others that it was part of a curse, and still others that it was a blessing from a long-dead and forgotten lord. The truth, like the woman, remained depressingly inscrutable.

Coiling her snake-like body up alongside the ritual circle, Wormtongue carefully regarded the young succubus on the stone floor before her. "Is my appearance so off-putting? Or will you, like so many others, try to forget that we made a bargain?"

Finding that she'd been lost in the depths of Wormtongue's silver eye, the succubus shook her head. "But it hasn't even...N-no, I wouldn't have-I mean...what do you want from me?"

Her neutral expression turning to one of mild amusement, Wormtongue helped the girl to her feet. "There is no need to be so flustered, but better to get it out of your system now. We're going to be spending a great deal of time together."

Looking around in a deepening confusion, the succubus answered back, "But your request was-"

Wormtongue turned away, completely ignoring the succubus. "Probably intentionally vague," the echidna interrupted. "Nevertheless, I can easily take back what I offered you before if you are unwilling to do this task for me."

Stricken suddenly with fear, the succubus quickly shook her head. "No. I'll do it. But...can you at least tell me _what_ you want me to do?"

"I must deliver on a very important bargain I've recently struck, and my predictions suggest that I will be unable to do so, sadly," Wormtongue began with a sigh. "You will be my agent...to act where I cannot."

The succubus raised her arms in a defensive posture. "Wait, h-hold on...are you sure you have the right person for this? You've got to be owed a favor by someone more capable at...well...anything than me."

Seeming to ignore the succubus completely, Wormtongue began wistfully reminiscing aloud. "It used to be that fear kept most from uttering my name. The greedy or the ambitious, however, could still often be heard whispering my name into the wind like that of a long-lost lover...eager to catch my attention and make a deal with...one such as I. Now...there are so few people that even know or remember my name that...hmm...Perhaps it would be best to say only that business has been slow."

Some shred of realization dawning on the flustered succubus, she answered wryly, "Please tell me you're not making me do this because I'm the _only_ person you can ask."

Still seeming to ignore the succubus, Wormtongue turned back to the demon and smiled. "Trust me, you are the only person suited to this task. All will be made clear in time, and time is something of which we have precious little. We have just under a year before you must be ready."

"You're just not going to listen if I say something you don't want to hear, are you? Wait...a year?!" the succubus asked in a dry tone that quickly turned to agitation.

"Let us go. There is much to do," Wormtongue answered as she slithered out of the stone ritual chamber with a beckoning look back over her shoulder.

"I'm coming, geez," the succubus called out before adding under her breath with a deep sigh of resignation, "Yeah...this is going to be _great_."

-

I wanted to kick myself for hesitating like I had during my last legitimate match with Zee. Putting a long dagger through my hand had somehow been fine in my head, so why had I been so afraid to eat the potential "fireball" she'd been about to throw at me?

Holding on to concerns about that match had become a luxury I was no longer afforded.

The noble part of me wanted to swallow the bitter pill of defeat, dedicate myself to training in earnest, and defeat Azalea in a fair match. After tightly binding that part of my mind in rope and tossing it into the Alnor harbor, I made my way to Kenzie One-Eye's shop to pick up what I hoped would let me cheat my way past the predicted two years of brutal training.

Alone with my thoughts, I had to wonder why it seemed to me that, despite being the sort of person that was made for this island, it was impossible to have only small conflicts or enemies chasing me. No, what should have been a simple exchange of, "Hey, wanna fuck forever?" followed by an overeager nod in the affirmative on my part had somehow turned into a world-spanning, life-or-death struggle...garnished with a dash of conspiracy and plated alongside fairly specific threats against anyone or anything I held, or would hold, dear.

Someone should get with the sommelier to find out what wine pairs best with _that_ dish. Just have him leave the bottle and keep 'em coming.

I would not have been surprised in the least to find out that the other 'me' was in on this like some sort of x-rated Total Recall. Fuck him. If he wants me to go to Mars, he can fly me there himself.

With everything tied up together as it was, I was brought back around to the fact that, in the grand scheme of things, I really didn't want to fight at all.

The thought set of a firestorm of doubt and indecision.

"Other" me certainly had a reason to fight. What person-human, mamono, or otherwise-would let someone get away with threatening or harming their family?

Having dealt with enough painful incidents of my sealed memory peeking through the murk of the magical obfuscation under which it been placed, I realized with supreme chagrin that "his" family would eventually be mine too.

In addition, given the scope of the unseen forces arrayed against us based on what I'd already seen and the very likely reality that Zee, even with her surpassingly prodigious skill, was not the greatest warrior in the land, it seemed a fool's errand to strive toward any sort of martial greatness.

So why aim for it in the first place?

With my mind, not unlike the very land, being so utterly saturated with what may as well have been an independently sentient, devouringly carnal lust, it was laughable to consider _not_ doing whatever I could to bury myself to the inexplicably nicely-trimmed (Meryl and I were going to need to have a talk about "boundaries") hilt in my dark-skinned salamander companion.

Hell, if Zee had told me I had to personally plant my ass on the Corpse Throne to get her to lift her tail, I'm pretty well convinced I'd already be wearing a French-looking bicorn hat, planning out supply lines, and working on a system to achieve optimal whore distribution to my forces to keep morale high.

Wouldn't have been too hard, right? I'm pretty sure all you need to do to conquer the world is to stay out of Russia in the winter, anyway.

Taking everything together...it was going to be impossible _not_ to fight. I comforted myself with the thought of Tesla designing his death ray. If a man that loved few things more than peace, plasma, and pigeons could come up with a such an idea in the hopes of preventing conflict...then I'd have to let myself be happy with the necessity of being able to defend myself and the ones I loved.

-

"Ye already paid me, but this thing is dangerous. Are ye quite sure about this, lad?" Kenzie asked before relinquishing her hold on the package I'd ordered.

I nodded in response. "I know. I'm only planning to ever use it once. It's probably not the worst idea I've ever had, but I appreciate the concern. Still better than a weapon that someone will probably end up using to kill someone else, right?"

Kenzie smiled at that and handed the package to me. "She'll do what ye asked, but be careful ye don't kill yourself with her, lad."

I turned to leave, looking back at the girl with a sheepish grin. "That's how I got into this mess in the first place. Anyway...I doubt I'll ever need to work a plow, but if I ever need some honest metalwork done, I'll look you up. Thanks again."

Her only response was a subtle shaking of her head and a wave of her hand as I left the shop and headed back toward Karisa's home to prepare for the match.

Despite having been shown the way only once, I wound my way through the crowded market as easily as if it had been my own cluttered bedroom. Hearing the many beckoning shouts of the market's many merchants plying their wares set off a firestorm of trade possibilities in my mind. If there was any battlefield for which I was made, it was certainly the one upon which coins and credit took the place of claws and cudgels.

Distracted by the enticing aroma of possibility, I didn't notice the small figure before me until I'd knocked her onto her ass.

Without hesitating, I reached down to offer a hand to the very small girl I'd just knocked over. If she hadn't grabbed my wrist herself, I'd have let her go the moment I saw her face.

"My, how _kind_ of you, boy," the witch Miranda exclaimed in a voice positively soaking in mischief. "It's good to see that you disregarded the only piece of advice I offered you."

As much as I hated to admit it, this was actually someone that could well provide a great deal of the answers we were seeking. Getting them out of her was probably going to be the trick.

I rolled my eyes before responding. "Yeah, coming to Alnor was how I got _into_ trouble. I suppose it's just a coincidence that Delilah was on my ass just days after I set out."

Miranda clicked her tongue and answered with a frown. "She's a resourceful girl...too resourceful for someone so antisocial, if you ask me."

"I didn't," I answered with annoyance. "What do you want? I have some important things to do today."

She amusedly arched an eyebrow. "Important things? Is that what you're calling that red-scaled war machine? Lucky draw, that one. She isn't going to be enough for what you're about to throw yourself in front of, though. You've gotten yourself into quite a mess."

"Thanks for the advice. Later," I finished as I tried to move past the witch, already convinced she wasn't going to tell me a damn thing of use.

She caught my arm as I walked past, her look turning serious for the first time I could remember. "I mean it, Joseph."

Sighing in frustration, I turned to look down at the witch. "Look, Miranda...if you want to help me, then help. Your seal on my memory is falling apart by the day, I've had everything from seductive devils to Kaori generals up my ass, and I doubt I can pay whatever exorbitant cost you'd ask for your so-called 'answers'." I made to walk away before turning back angrily. "Why are you even pretending to care in the first place?"

Not releasing her grip in the slightest, Miranda pleaded to me with her eyes as she answered, "Joseph...I…" she hesitated for several seconds before taking a deep breath to add, "Look, we were...bound together the moment I cast that blessing upon you and so my...fate is tied to yours. All I can safely tell you is that you have something the Regard wants-something nobody should have-and I'm here to renew the seal on your memory to at least make it harder for them to take it."

The little interaction I'd had with Miranda gave me no impression that she was even capable of being so serious. That convinced me that it _was_ something I knew that was the cause of all this. Had I seen someone or something I shouldn't have? How had I come by this piece of knowledge in the first place?

"I don't trust you or your motives, Miranda...not by a long shot," I began. "Our enemies know far too much about our movements and the fact that I ran into you here suggests you've been keeping more than just a casual eye on me."

She nodded. "I have...and I always will. But I don't have a lot of time. You can at least trust that, for the moment, we share an enemy. Will you allow me to renew the seal, Joseph?"

If she was just playing some sort of complicated game with me or someone else, she wouldn't have had any reason to ask permission to renew the seal, I reasoned. That she was asking permission sealed up a few other worries I'd had about giving up my memory in the first place. I didn't see any possible harm in reburying what was already lost to me and of such great interest to antagonistic parties.

"Fine. What do I need to do?" I asked, frowning as I realized that something more than a simple sequence of magic words had just been added to my agenda for the day.

Scowling at my expression as she lead me into a nearby alley, she dropped to her knees before me once we were out of sight. "Don't be such a baby. Where else did you think I was going to get the energy?"

Shaking my head but otherwise not resisting what was about to happen, I answered dryly, "Oh, any of the several dozen brothels in the city?"

She smiled up at me mischievously. "What self respecting witch would settle for a common molly-house cock peddler when they could dine on the finest whorish royalty? I also doubt I'd believe any objection you'd voice when you've already closed your eyes and put your hands behind your head."

It was more for a lack of reason that I made no attempt to stop her. I also _did_ feel a bit more pent-up than usual and she was moving quickly enough that I'd still have plenty of time to get back to Karisa's home for my appointment with Zee.

A few minutes of quiet sighs passed, followed by more than a half-minute of muted, groaning release on my part as I struggled to keep my feet under me.

Whatever Miranda tasted earned me more than just a grimace from her as she admirably kept herself to the task of drawing in my "energy".

"Merciful lords that was...a lot more than I was expecting," she began as she wiped her mouth and got back to her feet. "That should be more than enough to hold me." She then added with a slight blush, "For now. But...ahem...let's see about repairing this seal."

No grand ritual seemed to be required as she simply touched her palm to my forehead and began muttering under her breath. I felt a warm sensation pass over me along with what sounded like hundreds of distant whispers coiling in the air just beyond the reach of my sight. Less than a minute later, she stepped back bearing an expression somewhere between satisfaction and confusion.

"What? Did something go wrong?" I asked in concern.

"No...the seal has been renewed. It'll take a lot more to break it this time as well, but…" she trailed off as she seemed to ponder over something. "It wasn't the only seal I found. There are _two_ others. One was undoubtedly put in place by the lich, but the other I can't identify in the slightest."

"Wait...so that means that two other people _besides_ you have been fucking around in my head?" I asked in a growing anger.

"More than that...the lich sealed away far more than I did. I...cannot even begin to guess what-"

None of it mattered, right? That was another life-another _me_. If that was the case then why did I feel so betrayed?

"It's fine, Miranda. If this will help keep the hounds off my ass a little longer, then thanks."

Miranda seemed far different than I remembered her. Far from the callous enchantress, she now seemed like someone that genuinely cared about a lot more than herself. That left me in a pickle as to how to even categorize my thoughts on her.

She turned to walk away with a small flourish of her robes. "Be careful Joseph. I didn't trust that lich in the first place and now it seems there is far more to her about which to be concerned. This will mean little coming from me, but don't forget that enemies can just as often be found within as without."

With that, the small witch vanished in an almost comical poof of magic, leaving me to wonder over how deep one rabbit hole could actually be.

-

"Here, go put this on," Meryl offered without hesitation the moment I walked back through the door, pressing a large bundle of cloth and what felt like metal into my arms.

I held onto my curiosity over what I'd just been handed to take care of a more important matter that was sure to bite me in the ass later if neglected. "Before that, I need to tell you what happened on the way back."

Her gorgeous eyes turned slightly sinister as they laid their narrowed focus directly on (and possibly through) me. "Is it going to piss me off, Joe? Because my sister has been up my ass all day about going to see mother, and if I have to suffer through anything like one of her crying fits, I'll burn this fucking house to the ground."

Ah, family.

"Well, aside from letting that witch suck me off, I found out that-"

My mind picked the moment she cut me off to stumble upon a rather detailed realization about how different the social dynamic truly was on this island. If Meryl had been a normal girlfriend back on Earth, there was a good chance that my admission would have seen me banished to sleeping on the couch as punishment for at least a week.

Here, it was immediately clear that I'd be saddled (possibly literally) with quite the opposite. I did find it interesting that the shame of my confession moved quite a bit more blood than just what would have been needed to blush, a great deal of my vitae choosing to migrate south for what promised to be a swampy season in the near future.

"Did she force you?" Meryl interrupted, the anger in her voice cutting through me.

"I didn't ask for it...but no, she didn't force me," I began before explaining everything that had transpired between myself and Miranda, breathing a sigh of relief when the heat of Meryl's fury calmed from a boil to a light simmer.

Meryl was probably more cheered from the news that the seal on my memory had been strengthened than she should have been. If she'd been fighting with Karisa, it was probably mostly about me. "Damn it, Joe...even if she isn't an enemy-which we still haven't confirmed-she damn sure isn't an ally and you let her drag you by the cock into an alley. She could have hurt you or spirited you out of the city completely. I can't believe I'm about to even say this, but...could you maybe slow down on letting your cock make possible life or death choices for you?"

I hadn't even considered the possibility that Miranda wanted anything more than a quick shot of butter straight from the churn. It worried me more that I hadn't even realized the potential danger until Meryl pointed it out.

My brow furrowing at the thought, I simply nodded. "I'll try, I guess. Now what is this...outfit?"

Now wagging her tail in tandem with a pride-filled grin, Meryl happily answered my question. "I bought this from Karisa. It didn't fit her husband anymore with the tail and the wings and she couldn't find a tailor she trusted enough to modify it. It actually looks...er...will look great on you and those really hard pieces are dragon scales so it's also a pretty amazing suit of armor too."

Now _that_ was some good news! Maybe I wouldn't have to tell all the curious mamono on my next market trip that I fell down a set of stairs or ran into a door in answer to their staring at my many bruises.

Putting the bundle under my arm, I reached around Meryl with my free arm and pulled her close, smiling as I placed a grateful kiss upon her sweet lips. "Is Zee already out back?"

Reluctantly letting me break the kiss, Meryl nodded. "Yeah, and she looks pretty fired up. Risa just put the girls down for a nap so you can change down here. Oh, and I'm going to watch this time. I just have to know what crazy plan of yours cost me forty thousand gold. This had better be good."

At that I heard movement from the rear patio that signified that Zee was heading inside.

Not good.

If Zee saw me with two identical swords, she'd know something was up. Thankfully thinking quickly enough to at least protect her investment, Meryl shoved me into the living room and moved to meet Azalea before the salamander could accidentally stumble in on me and ruin my entire plan.

Quickly removing Tizona from her scabbard, I rested her on the pommel between the wall and the large leather couch to hide her as best I could. I heard a soft tearing sound as I wedged the weapon behind the large piece of furniture as quickly as I could manage, uttering a silent apology to the fine weapon as I hid the blade as best I could.

"He's late, we were supposed to do this before noon," I heard Zee's voice call from down the hall.

"Well, he's changing into the present I got him so he can beat you today and finally stop obsessing over that whole...whatever you have going on there," Meryl answered back with a hint of challenge in her voice to delay Zee.

I had to wonder if they knew I could hear them. Regardless, I didn't want to get caught with my pants down just yet. Satisfied that Tizona wouldn't be found without dedicated effort that I doubted Zee would expend without cause, I slid the specially crafted replica weapon into the sheath. I then doffed my clothes and began sliding myself into the clothing Meryl had just given me.

The cloth itself felt even smoother than silk but proved to be far more durable and elastic. It was obvious that the suit had been tailored specifically for me and was impossibly comfortable. Any weight from the supernaturally hard dragon scales had been distributed perfectly, the tailor managing to avoid anything that would have damaged the stylistic profile of the attire.

Whatever the truth of my combat prowess, the fetching suit of armored clothing certainly made me _look_ a lot more impressive. I had only a few moments to look myself over in admiration, however, before Zee strode into the room with a smile.

"Oh ho. You're wearing my color, Joe. And are those…?" Zee asked as her hands ran along the ridge of one of the many dragon scales that adorned my outfit. "Dragon scales...unbelievable. You really want to win this, don't you?"

As Zee looked me over, the flames on her tail grew brighter again as the scaled appendage swayed back and forth in anticipation.

She continued with a seductive smile that had been more and more present on her lips of late. "This makes me want to fight so much harder, Joe," she began as she drew in a deep breath that was exhaled as a palpable lust born from her desire to fight. "Come on...I want to see if you've got what it takes to deliver on all that talk from yesterday."

-

I felt paralyzed. Even with all of the time I'd spent planning and preparing for this moment, I couldn't bring myself to be okay with so blatantly cheating to win our contest.

I felt the wind rushing past me. A powerful kick to my chest had set me to sailing backwards to land several meters away on my back.

"Joe!" Zee and Meryl shouted in tandem as Zee ran over to look me over with concern. "What's wrong?"

The armored clothing had definitely done its job as I felt only a slight throbbing where the kick had connected. "I can't do it, Zee. I...think I could beat you today, but to do it I'd have to-"

"Cheat? Fight dirty? Use magic? If you think any of that might be enough to give you an edge then you're a fool to even hesitate using it," she spat back angrily, clearly having had this conversation many times before.

Shaking my head, I looked back up at the imposing salamander. "But this whole time, I've been fighting you honestly. I thought I'd be okay with it, but cheating feels wrong somehow...like having your body as a reward would be the ultimate betrayal."

Prodding me with her clawed foot, she frowned down at me. "Joe, listen to me. You're the one that put those 'honorable' restrictions on yourself. Even though all this time it's like I've been fighting you with one arm tied behind my back. There were a lot of lessons to take out of our training, but you're missing one of the most important ones."

Was I missing something? "What, that I need to play dirty to have any chance of winning? This all started because of my impure desire to add yet another notch to my belt. Can you really be okay with that?"

She bored into me with her eyes as she answered. "What's more pure than combat, Joe? There is only one possible goal and two possible outcomes. Your goal is to win...and you either achieve that goal or you don't. Nothing else matters in a fight."

"It isn't always that simple," I countered.

Zee shook her head, her eyes never leaving me. "Life sure isn't that simple, but fighting is. In a real fight with someone that wants you dead, nothing outside the fight matters-not your family, your friends, or the front door you forgot to lock. Letting those things distract you just gives your opponent another advantage."

"But if I cheat to win, it won't even feel like I truly bested you...and with the prize I wanted, I'd just be-" I began before she again cut me off.

Azalea stepped away from me, seemingly lost in thought for several moments. When she turned back, she looked more angry than anything else.

"Joe, I've never been beaten in a real fight and I've been a warrior for over seven hundred years. Your baffling arrogance is part of what I like about you, but do you seriously think that in all that time, every single one of my opponents was as pure as the driven snow, unwilling to use unfair or underhanded tactics to take any advantage they could? If you, with your frail mortal body, actually manage something that nobody in seven centuries ever could could...trust me, you'll have your 'prize' from me today whether you want it or not.

If you're scared that whatever you thought up isn't going to be enough to win our challenge, then just stay down and accept defeat. I'll be disappointed, but I'm not going to think less of you as long as you keep training. _However_ you manage to pull it off, if you actually manage to draw blood then I was either underestimating you or failing to see something important...and the only way we get better is to face our failings. I'll be more pissed at you if you _don't_ try whatever you've been planning...and you should be too if you let yourself bitch out."

That was pretty much what I needed to hear. Azalea knew it, and the look from Meryl suggested that the vixen knew it as well. Who was I trying to kid here? Zee was a head taller than me, at least as strong as a lowland gorilla, and so far beyond me in skill that even making a serious comparison was an insult. If I boiled it down to one simple goal and only one of two possible outcomes...I truly would have been foolish to ignore any weapon I had at hand.

"Sorry I almost fucked this all up. Let's start over, Zee. And I had better not hear any crying when this is all over, because I'm playing to win."

She began advancing on me with her serious look put forth "Well then you'd better hold your breath because you'll get no tears from me today."

Seeing the momentary strengthening twinkle of Azalea's tail flame confirmed that I'd said exactly what she wanted to hear. Azalea's skin flushed for a moment before she held her advance to reassume the stance in which she'd started this conflict.

Finally drawing my weapons, I looked at Zee for any changes in her stance before starting the attack routine I'd been practicing since I'd first stumbled upon the idea of beating her. It certainly wasn't going as smoothly as I'd hoped. The improvements I'd made to my form had already been accounted for, and Zee's attacks had a lot more weight and power behind them than before. It felt like the fact that I was wearing protective gear was simply making the salamander more dangerous.

Diving far wide of an upward swing, I rolled and came to my feet in a stop thrust to give myself some breathing room. She leapt back out of range just before I would have made contact.

"You barely avoided that one, Zee. You sure you aren't you really looking forward to being penetrated by my weapon?" I teased as I quickly got to my feet and wiped the sweat from my brow.

"You haven't convinced me you know how to use it yet, Joe. If you fuck anything like you fight, I expect you'll be quick, sloppy, and end up leaving me unsatisfied," she retorted. "And if you're going to try to taunt me, you'd do better to use something I haven't heard."

We'd been at it less than two minutes and I was already feeling winded. The armor I was wearing may have been exceptionally light and flexible, but it was still extra weight and while it wasn't really slowing me down, it was putting the screws to my stamina.

As badly as I wanted it, this just wasn't going to happen without playing dirty. I had to make my move, and it had to be soon.

"Maybe I'll…" I stepped forward into a deep lunge, twisting my body sideways to avoid her riposte. "...surprise you."

I countered her attempt to grab me by thrusting with my off-hand blade as she made a powerful pivot on her toes. As I rolled under her slash, I made a crosswise swipe of my own. Her small leap was so smooth and fluid, it was as though her body was made of water.

This exact scenario had played out at least a dozen times, each time with only slight variations on the result. I'd just never been quick enough to capitalize on how open she left herself with that leap that would be followed by a fierce downward slash. If I'd been a bit quicker or more skilled, I could have deflected her strike to land a telling one of my own-at least in theory.

The reality was that it was impossible to know how she might have adapted to such a tactic and could have had any number of answers. That's why it had to be that moment for me to unleash my deception.

Having already regained my balance after practicing the roll so many times, I dropped my off-hand weapon, gripped the hilt of the modified Tizona in both hands, and met her swing with an outright block, every ounce of strength in my arms and legs pushing my steel to meet hers.

With a deafening ring as the blades met, Zee's expression was one of disappointment and then anger...and then surprise as my weapon shattered upon impact.

Just as planned.

I'd envisioned this moment so many times that I was almost in awe that it had worked at all. As several large pieces of shrapnel flew towards Zee-any one of them likely enough to draw blood-she let loose her grip on her weapon and shielded her face as she literally threw herself backwards.

Still holding a serviceable weapon, I charged at Zee to claim my victory. I kept my guard up, knowing that any one of her appendages could still knock me out of the fight. Her tail had flared up as bright as I'd ever seen it as time passed in slow motion.

As Zee finished her roll, it wasn't disappointment I saw on her face any longer, but an assured smile. I was put off, not by the fact that she was smiling, but by the realization that her movements were too fast to have been improvised. She must have known I had a plan like this, or that something like this could happen.

I was a step away from her as I closed in, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in my foot and only then seeing the large piece of the fake Tizona that had been driven through the top of my boot. I made a fatal stumble as Zee continued her movement to end in a powerful low stance, her body already spinning to bring her tail at me in a brutal sweeping attack.

My blade was still on a trajectory that couldn't be stopped, right toward the unarmored thigh upon which she was pivoting. Even if her tail knocked me out, there was still a good chance that I'd land the attack I'd unleashed.

Except that it wasn't a simple tail sweep, her tail actually hitting the ground in tandem with one of her powerful arms to vault her body over my desperate thrust, the last thing I saw being her scaly clawed foot descending toward my face in an arc.

-

I was no stranger to being unconscious, but this was among the rudest awakenings I could remember.

"Damn it, Joe...wake your ass up," I heard Zee demand as my face was roughly slapped.

"Don't wanna," I lamented as I covered my eyes, realizing that I'd been laid on the couch in the study.

"Do you have any idea how much that sword cost to make? I had it crafted specially for you!" she added as she pulled my hands away from my eyes.

"No you didn't. That sword was a copy...and it was like forty thousand gold or something. Making a nearly exact copy of a sword like that isn't cheap," I groaned, matter-of-factly.

She shook her head and looked down at me with a frown. "So you spent _more_ than I did on the original just to dust the yard with the pieces." She cheered slightly as she continued, "It was surprising though. I never would have expected you'd risk destroying a sword you intentionally gave such a meaningful name."

I had a splitting headache and I wasn't in the mood to have a chat about how I _almost_ pulled it off. Not to mention two more years of Zee tormenting my libido every day.

"Yeah, it was a mistake. I was sure either the shrapnel or the the functional piece that was left of the weapon would have been enough. Whatever...it's just pride and money, right?" I asked as I stood up from the comfortable couch.

"That was a lot of gold, Joe," Meryl chimed in from across the room. "How were you planning on paying me back?"

"Black magic or something. I don't know Meryl. I wasn't planning to lose and I'd have been a lot happier dealing with the debt if I had something to show for it."

"So that's why you and Meryl were acting weird earlier. Then...where did you hide the real sword?" Zee asked.

Sighing in frustration, I stepped around Zee to the back of the couch I'd just been laying on and grabbed for the hidden weapon, only to find it stuck in the leather. That was just one more thing I didn't need that day after my grand plan had gone straight down the shitter.

Realistically, I couldn't be too upset given that I'd just been handed yet another defeat at the hands of one of the greatest warriors I'd probably ever meet. The thought, however, wasn't making me feel any better.

"Be careful, you're going to destroy the-" Zee attempted before the three of us (and probably Karisa somewhere else in the house) heard the sound of an expensive piece of furniture losing a great deal of its initial value.

"Whatever," I thought, ready to add the cost of the furniture to my pointless debts of the day. With the throbbing pain in my foot acting as the icing on the cake, I simply didn't care.

With another grunt, I yanked violently at the weapon as it came free all at once, throwing me backwards into Zee's thankfully waiting arms.

Catching me, Zee spoke in a gently scolding tone. "Be careful, Joe. It isn't the end of the world."

"So, Zee?" Meryl suddenly asked, her ears perked up in full-on mischief mode. "Is Joe allowed to attack you while you're sleeping or taking a piss? Like...it doesn't matter as long as he draws blood?"

"Why the sudden interest, Meryl? You afraid he's had enough fluffy tail?" Zee joked.

"I doubt he'd ever get enough of any sort of tail, if you must know. Really, I was just curious," Meryl answered with more than her normal level of snark.

I wasn't sure if Meryl was just trying to cheer me up, but the fact that she seemed to be trying to help give me other options was making me smile a bit.

"That was the deal. So yeah, however he manages to pull it off. Why, are you going to start trying to teach him how to sneak around like a thief?" Zee wondered, not impressed at all.

"Nah. Oh, but here," Meryl said as she tossed a set of keys to Zee. "The girls are already asleep so those are for my place. The large one is for the gate, the smaller one is for the front door. It's two houses down to the north. Just clean up when you're done."

"What are you even-" Zee began with a hint of anger.

Gesturing to her own cheek, Meryl's smile widened. "You've got a little something...riiiight there."

Turning to look at Azalea, I saw a small trail of blood running down her cheek from a tiny nick just below her eye. As she wiped the small amount of blood away, her eyes went first to Meryl, then to me, and then looked as if they might roll back in her head.

"You've got to be kidding me...oh, sweet lords..." Zee remarked in a defeated tone that wasn't entirely bereft of something resembling excited anticipation.

Figuring out what happened as I looked more closely, it became clear that the great warrior Azalea had managed to lose our challenge, taking the tiny nick from Tizona as I'd tumbled back into her arms. 'Twas not my skill that had defeated her, but the cruel hand of fate...and a leather couch.

It may have been the only time fate had stepped up to the plate for me and actually delivered. As far as I was concerned, it was about damn time, too.

After being convinced by Zee before our fight that I should take absolutely any advantage open to me, what sort of person would I have been to ignore the advantage of dumb luck? Fuck if I was going to complain about it now.


	29. Chapter 29-Attack on the Unsundered Gate

Chapter 29 - Attack Upon The Unsundered Gate

When Zee stormed out of the room, I didn't think there was even a remote chance that she had any intention of keeping up her end of our deal. I wouldn't have even entirely expected her to given how I'd "won" our challenge. Her expression was nearly impossible to read in the moments before she'd vanished, however.

"Seriously though, how are you going to pay me back for all that gold, hmm?" Meryl asked, her attempt to change the subject feeling more like a taunt than anything else.

"I've been giving it some thought but I've obviously had a lot of other things on my mind, okay?"

Meryl took a few steps closer to me only to push the damaged side of the couch back against the nearby wall. "Don't want to be on the hook for this too," she began with a conspiratorial wink, her smile turning into a frown a moment later. "No, Joe. It's not okay. And before you get all pissy about me being selfish, it isn't just going to be me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, not sure what she was getting at.

Satisfied that the damage I'd caused to Karisa's furniture wouldn't be noticed, Meryl tossed herself down onto the soft leathery cushions. "I mean that if you're having trouble worrying about just two women, you're going to have some serious problems with however many more you seem determined to pick up. And this is more than just sex. Even if it doesn't seem like it, we mamono have plenty of desires beyond that."

I knew what she was saying but this really didn't feel like the time for it. "I know, Meryl, and I'm sorry. It won't be a problem forever. I'd take issue with you thinking I owe you any gold, however."

Her frown deepened. "Oh really?"

I could tell she was about to be very upset-all part of my plan to pull her off balance. "Yeah. If we're more than just friends or lovers, aren't we supposed to forget about the things that are 'mine' and the things that are 'yours' and think of it all as 'ours'?"

Apparently she was several steps ahead of me, a light smile returning as she replied. "Oh, you're right! They actually have a legal way to handle that exact situation, too. It's called marriage, and if you're saying that you're ready, Joe…"

Even though she was messing with me, I could tell that she wasn't entirely joking. I liked her, sure...but marriage? Maybe I just had some hangups over the word itself. I did know more than enough about Meryl to know that I doubted I'd ever want her to disappear from my life. Isn't that what marriage was, really?

"Actually, Meryl…" I began with a thoughtful look at her.

"Whoa, hold on. I mean...yes, we should do that, but not until you're sure that's what you want. Damn, didn't think you'd call my bluff there. We'll have to talk about it tomorrow with Zee...and maybe my sister. I can't even fathom how the Alnor laws will be able to handle a situation like this. Oh, and have fun...but not too much," Meryl suddenly added with a wide smile.

Before I could ask what she meant, I was nearly dragged off my feet by Zee grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the door.

"I thought you were coming. Let's go." Zee still didn't seem pleased, but there were now definitely the very familiar notes of a growing lust plainly showing in the tone of her voice.

-

Meryl's house was even larger and more well-appointed than Karisa's. That just made me wonder why it looked like she hadn't lived in the place for several months at the least, even after having spent several days there since we'd arrived back in Alnor.

With a wide open design plan, nearly every part of the first floor was visible upon entering. Large Greek-style columns stood like a stone forest between the vaulted ceiling and the gorgeous marble tiles beneath. The few walls on the first floor concealed only a kitchen, a bath, and a toilet.

I also couldn't have missed the massive painting that had caused me any number of problems, hung obviously above a large hearth that dominated a large sitting area at the far side of the house, opposite the entrance. With a level of detail that suggested that any one of the three individuals depicted might leap from the canvas, I observed an impossibly lewd display of myself _engaged_ with Delilah and Karisa in the Alnor market square. From the looks of the painting there were also dozens of spectators.

Zee looked at the painting for a moment and then looked back at me, pausing for only seconds before she began pulling me along again, this time up the stairs.

The second floor, to which I'd been dragged despite my pained limp, was divided into five large bedrooms. Within what had to be the master bedroom, the open space still managed to feel intimate, courtesy of the abundance of softness that permeated nearly everything within.

With a large circular bed, clad in fine silks, a welcoming floor of plush red carpet, and evocatively dark tapestries hung on the walls, the room was overtly sensual without feeling sleazy or overdone.

Pushing me into the room and onto the bed, Zee closed the door and leaned back against it, breathing far heavier than she'd been even after the fight with the orc Hilde. Her eyes seemed to be searching the room for something upon which she could focus that wasn't me as her face wore an expression of embarrassment or...fear.

Seeing her expression, I tried to speak. "Zee, we don't have to-"

"It isn't that, Joe. I want this...so much that it's driving me mad. I just wanted-needed to know if you meant what you said before about wanting more...with me." Her voice was uneven, like a mother calling for a lost child.

I nodded. "That's what I said before and I meant it. I was actually going to talk to you and Meryl tomorrow about...things."

She seemed to disregard everything beyond my acknowledgement as she continued. "I'm just really scared right now...of what I'll do, what you'll do...what will happen. I've heard stories...what if I get too excited and hurt you, or-"

Standing up from the bed, I took two steps toward Zee. "This is what we both want right now, right?" I continued to step closer, remaining just out of reach as Azalea held her ground despite visibly shaking knees. "If I die from this, just have my tombstone say that I died doing what I love."

The butterflies in my stomach began holding an impromptu cirque as I realized that what I said could have been taken more than one way...and that I was okay with her taking either meaning.

Her steely eyes leaping to meet mine, she angrily countered, "You dumbass! Don't even say something like that! What if-"

That was enough questions for one day, I determined with a firm resolve. Maybe to a nearly ageless mamono, it was easier to let such moments draw themselves out. To someone like me, the moment was already too full of far more important things to let worries about "what if" get in the way.

Before she could finish whatever silly statement she was about to make, I took a large step forward and placed my hand gently on her neck, locking my gaze upon hers for only another moment to feel for resistance before leaning in and drawing her into a kiss. By her reaction, I was sure that this was the first truly unexpected thing I'd done since the rules of our challenge had been set.

Without removing my hand as it rested gently upon her dark skin, I broke our kiss and looked up at Zee, seeing her looking shocked beyond the capacity to even draw breath.

"More?" I whispered softly, the touch of my breath easily calling goosebumps to every inch of her exposed skin.

"Mhm," she answered with a fervent nod, suddenly remembering the need to breathe.

The desire to make this as perfect an experience for her as possible the only thing holding my desire in check, I placed another tiny kiss upon those full luscious lips that had been driving me to distraction since the first time I'd laid eyes upon them. "Just like you swore to me, I promise I'll never go easy on you, Zee."

The scarce few moments of blessed contact with Zee's lips left little else on my mind beyond a sincere need to feel their touch again. I'd hardly let myself truly experience how it felt to kiss my beautiful salamander companion, the lingering feeling of softness the only thing remaining in the wake of that impulsive act.

I would never make that mistake again.

Fully embracing Azalea, I felt her entire body shaking like an overwound spring, threatening to snap at the slightest touch. From fear or from suppressing her more monstrous desires, the touch of my far more insistent kiss did nothing to lessen the tension in her body or make the cause any more clear.

Trying to draw her into the rhythm of the moment felt like dragging a mule through a car wash. She made no attempt to push me away, even after our tongues clumsily touched, her breath only catching as a growing heat began to suffuse her skin.

She was full of a dangerously growing sexual tension, to be sure. For all I knew, that urge had been building, suppressed, within her since she was old enough to understand the feeling in the first place. On top of that, a pile of worries and insecurities seemed to have her feeling like she had no way to unleash that tension.

Brushing back a lock of her dark hair that had escaped her fierce ponytail, I smiled softly up at her. "Zee, what are you afraid of?"

She looked down at me, her eyes bleeding forth a palpable fear that I never could have imagined ever seeing in Zee. "You, Joe. I'm afraid of you."

I gaped in disbelief. "How is that possible? You said yourself that you could crush my skull if you wanted to, and we both know I'll never be a match for you in battle. I'm shortsighted when contemplation is needed and thoughtful when the situation calls for action. What about me could possibly make you afraid, Zee?"

She turned her eyes away, directing them to some invisible point on the floor across the room. "Every time I look at you I feel...lesser. I watch you swallow sadness, even when it isn't your own, as though it is nothing more than a bitter medicine to make you stronger while my sadness poisons me and rots me away from the inside." She then brought her tail into my line of sight, the flame still weak, but steady. "Because of you, this flame refuses to go out. Fighting for something that matters has always made it bright but I'm still afraid of what will happen if I make the wrong choice again."

I hadn't been through anything nearly as terrible as what Zee had endured...that I could remember anyway. But how long did someone have to suffer under such a heavy burden before they could set it down?

Keeping my grip on her but making no attempt to push her any further until she was ready, I continued, "You were a leader, Zee. What did you tell your soldiers when they were afraid? I know that you'd never tell them to run when they got too afraid-to show the enemy their backs and worry only about their own survival."

She looked thoughtful as she considered what I said, probably already thinking of a way to tell me that this was different than a battle.

Swallowing hard, I continued, "I'm here with you now, Zee. Whatever demons you're trying to face, you don't have to do it alone. Knowing that someone like you has my back is what gives me that strength. We're in this together-you, me, Meryl, and probably a bunch of other people I don't even remember. I've got lords only know how many enemies just dying to take a piece of me, but I'm not going to run." I then extended a hand as though asking her to dance. "Zee, you reached down and pulled me out of the mud when I wanted to give up. Well...now my hand is right here for the taking, and if you _choose_ to take it, I won't let go."

I expected her to spend several minutes mulling over what I'd just said, starting in surprise when I felt the passing of only a single heartbeat before she placed her crimson-scaled hand in mine and tightly squeezed.

And so we danced.

As my mind was left reeling by how quickly Zee had made her decision, my concerned reluctance was brought immediately to task as her body nearly melted into my arms a moment later, the tension so tightly bound up within her starting to rapidly unravel.

The seconds following saw Azalea assert herself in claiming our first true kiss, the satiny lusciousness of her lips so quickly stealing my strength that it felt like my legs had been kicked out from under me.

What she so clearly lacked in experience, she made up in a renewed enthusiasm that was only growing by the moment, her breath already coming hot as our tongues met again in a tentative accord. As that oral embrace grew more intense, I felt the softness of Zee's palms as they slid beneath my clothes wherever they could find purchase to touch my skin.

I returned the gesture, running my hands under her armor, across her powerful feminine shoulders and down to the small of her back, drawing my fiery companion toward the bed as our passionate kiss worked to set our desires further aflame.

"Ah-!" Zee exclaimed as I tripped over the bed and pulled the two of us down onto the silken softness.

I set about quickly setting my fingers to the task of undoing the many straps and clasps that held her light armor in place, finding the undertaking quite a bit more daunting than my legendary one-handed bra-removing skills could handle.

After several minutes of failed attempts by either of us to do anything more than tease the other with our shared inability to get the other any closer to a state of undress, Zee suddenly pushed me away.

Zee jumped to her feet and focused on undressing herself in an obvious growing frustration. "Damn it, Joe! I thought you were supposed to be the professional here. Look, the clasp is-" she suddenly froze as she looked back at me.

In the few moments she'd looked away to start pulling off her armor, I'd completely shucked my clothing, sitting on the edge of the bed to watch her in rapt fascination.

Blushing in embarrassment all the way down to my toes as she looked at me, I couldn't help but chuckle as I watched her trying to keep her eyes on two different things at once. With her grip now fumbling over the clasps of the armor that she'd probably been taking on and off for decades, it looked like she might actually cry in frustration.

"I can help you with-" I began before I saw her eyes harden.

"Don't you even move, I've-" she began as she simply grabbed the chest section and ripped the protective gear off, destroying the straps completely and sending at least a few pieces of metal flying across the room to points unknown. "-got it now."

The look of fearful anticipation returned as she stood naked before me only moments later, her head turned away even as her eyes remained fixed on me.

Just taking in the view of the woman before me, shying away from me when she'd have likely had no problem facing a dragon nose to nose, let the gravity of the gift I was already seeing sink in. Seeing Zee so vulnerable for the first time let me remember that, beneath her armor and scales was a beating heart that deserved to thump in time with another.

"Am I...pretty?" she asked, still standing a few meters from the bed.

I took a deep breath and shifted my position to give her an unobstructed view of my obvious arousal. "Pretty is what you call flowers and little girls, Zee." I was going to have to make the first move here so I stood up and grabbed the arm she was using in a poor attempt to cover her substantial assets. "You...take my breath away"

Wait...wasn't an azalea actually a flower anyway? I could worry about semantics later. The look on her face meant she took my meaning as I'd hope she would.

As my words of assurance passed across her membranous finned ears, her demeanor shifted. Having seen and heard all she needed, she wasn't about to simply lay back and let herself be claimed like a human. Becoming the sultry temptress I knew she could be, Zee pushed me easily onto my back atop the bed and stalked toward me, the lust-filled look in her eyes making it clear she intended to draw yet another surrender from me.

She may have known, but certainly didn't fully understand, that sex was far more than just an occasional hobby for me.

Teasingly sliding her skin across mine until her eyes were even with mine, she pulled her legs up astride me and placed her hands on my shoulders, the look of hunger never leaving her eyes.

I looked up at her with a half smile as if to ask, "Now what?"

Her answer was correct on so many levels as she leaned forward to kiss me again, her heavy breasts pressing against me as the full softness of her lips continued to validate every fantasy I'd ever had about them. While taking this more dominant role, Zee seemed to already be intuitively picking up on the pace of our act.

As I ran my fingers across the enticing smoothness of her dark bronze skin, I shifted myself a bit lower beneath her. While Zee's tail coiled about my leg, making her fiery embrace even more complete, my overly engorged firmness slipped across her skin to lay vigilant against the entrance to her core, fluttering slightly against her in time with the rapid cadence of my quickening heartbeat.

Zee gasped immediately as she recognized the sensation, her taloned hand going to my face as though the softly affectionate grip was the edge of a precipice over which she was still afraid to fall.

Searching my face for any sign of discomfort and finding naught but a lustful pleading, the dusky salamander nodded a silent assent and took her first step into a far different world than the one to which she was accustomed as she began to, ever so slowly, slide herself lower to envelop me within her.

I barely noticed the look of determination on her face as the inhuman heat of her overslicked walls swallowed me by agonizing millimeters, driving any other thought from my head. Somehow sensing my earnest desire to end the torture of being slowly devoured within her, becoming a moth that hurls itself heedless into the flame, she raised up above me, resting her hands on my lower abdomen for balance and then flexed her powerful legs about my hips to keep them almost entirely immobile.

With her scaled hands no longer restricting the movement of my arms, I sated many of the remaining curiosities I'd had about her body, cupping her breasts as their bounty nearly spilled from my hands. Pulling gently at her hardened nipples caused her to gasp again in a satisfyingly pleasant surprise.

When she made no move to stop my wandering hands, I continued to paw at her more than ample breasts with one hand while the other snaked to the gap between us, seeming to close at a pace that would infuriate a glacier caught behind it in the fast lane, and began teasing at the fully engorged pearl of her sexual pleasure.

This provoked an almost immediate reaction from Zee, her mouth dropping open as a hand went to cover it, a powerful moan easily escaping the grip of her scaled hand. At the same time, I hissed in further growing arousal as her descent upon me leapt forward in velocity by an order of magnitude.

Far sooner than I could have hoped or expected, barely a minute after I began to tease as Zee's sensitive clit, she shook and cried out while her legs surrendered all that remained of my manhood to the molten heat of her depths. Zee then let loose an even louder cry of pleasure mixed with unabashed amazement as she gave herself fully to the feeling that her monstrous heritage had begged for over seven hundred years.

The look of relief on her face suggested she thought our dance had finished, but I had a great deal more song requests to pass to the DJ. Barely holding onto my willpower as her clutching recesses held fast upon me in the wake of her spastic release, I redoubled the efforts of my fingers upon her oversensitive nub while I began pushing my hips up against her. After only a handful of small thrusts up into her, Zee's hands fell heavy upon my chest, her eyes closing as her every breath became a moaning gasp of escalating pleasure.

Gritting my teeth in determination, I kept up the pace until I again saw Zee's jaw slacken and her breath catch as another quaking orgasm again snatched away her strength. I silently blessed the increased sexual stamina I'd been afforded by Miranda's earlier ministrations as I took the initiative and rolled Zee onto her back.

"W-what are you-" Zee began before my first thrust into her quivering depths stole that thought from her. Her retooled response was to begin moving her hips in time with mine, exclaiming between ecstatic sighing outbursts, "Lords...just please don't stop!"

Seeing no indication of any pain or discomfort on her part, even from the very forceful tempo that had been set, I reached beneath her and tightly grabbed her shoulders to give me more leverage as I began to drive into her even more powerfully.

My rigid serpentine invader glistening upon each reluctant withdrawal with her natural lubrication in the light of the afternoon sun, beaming through the wide windows, I let the increasing distress at being pulled from her heat drive me back into her with ever greater passion. At such a pace, I knew there was little more I could take of the scalding heaven wrought by her inhuman passage.

I let my pace slow for just a moment to kiss Azalea deeply, entwining my tongue with hers as the liquid grasp of her lips drove my lust up against the breaking point. Pulling away, I then took a deep breath and began throwing myself into my scaled lover with as much power as I could muster.

Her eyes screwed shut in the unfamiliar sensations of the act as her large frame shook with each penetrative impact. The pitch of her "oohs" and "ahs" ever rising, I knew she was at least as close as I was and I was determined to push her over the edge again.

Lowering my angle of approach slightly, I pulled back a final time and then arrogated her pleasure to the hammering of my hungering cock into her, my glans thundering forcefully into her g-spot. The added quickly stimulation being far more than either of us could take, I was the first to fall.

Screaming out in ecstasy, I plunged into her quivering snatch one final time before the tightening sensation at my core overwhelmed me, my cock sending an absolute torrent of my seed within her, only acting to stoke the fire it was meant to extinguish. Her eyes flew open and fixed upon me in a curiosity that was quickly buried in wanton lust, her vaginal walls starting to spasm in sympathetic release a moment later.

"Y-you're-oh…" Zee shakily said, her eyes opening and then closing blissfully a moment later as she wrapped me tightly in her grasp, her legs and tail holding tight against the back of my thighs to keep me lodged as deeply within her as possible.

Feeling my release must have been the trigger that had set her off again, as it often did with mamono I'd been with. Nothing of my increasingly prodigious issue escaped from her thirsting womb as her innermost reaches pulled upon me like a traveller slaking a desperate desert-born thirst.

I could only bury my face on her shoulder with a whimper as I lost myself within her, holding her tightly as we rode out the storm of our shared climax.

With her breathing slowing back to the calm and even, Zee still seemed bitterly reluctant to release me from her arms.

"Just a little longer, Joe. I don't want to ever forget this feeling." Zee squeezed me tighter, her arms feeling protective now more than possessive.

"Um...I wasn't planning on that being the only time we ever do this, you know," I tried to protest.

Reaching down to smack me hard on my exposed ass, she only squeezed tighter. "It's the only time it'll ever be the first time, you ass."

"Fine. But don't blame me if I get the urge to start moving again," I teased with a smile.

Grinning back at me, she pushed the hair from my face. "I was hoping you might."

If that wasn't an engraved invitation…

"I won't go easy on you this time either," I offered with a tiny shaking of my hips.

With a small gasp, her eyes narrowed in a renewed desire. "Good. You wield _this_ weapon with far more skill than any others. Show me what else you can do with it."

-

Not entirely sure how we were expected to "clean up" after what became the messiest sexual encounter I'd ever had, I tossed the pile of soaked bedding into a nearby basket and rushed to meet Zee in the foyer before heading back together towards Karisa's nearby home.

After several hours of very spirited...activity, I found that I wasn't much more exhausted than I would have been after a long jog through the city. Something about that bothered me, but seeing the bounce in Zee's step as we headed back convinced me that whatever was happening to me was worth it.

My wounded foot wasn't troubling me nearly as much as we headed back, lost as I was in a euphoric daze until running headlong into Zee's back as she came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the street.

"Zee! What the-" I exclaimed.

Zee cursed as she threw her unwearable armor to the ground and pulled her falchion free of its sheath. "Joe, draw your weapons and wait here. Something is very wrong."

Looking around, I didn't see anyone or anything about which to be concerned. It took several moments to realize that the problem was that there wasn't _anyone_ around. Even during a change in the guard, there would almost certainly have been at least one member of the watch visible on the wide street.

Leaving me in the street, Zee strode inside without hesitating. Seconds later I heard the sound of steel on steel and rushed to the entryway.

In the foyer, I saw Zee amidst several unfamiliar armed figures as well as a few others that I recognized immediately, to my immediate dismay. From the doorway, I could make out Hilde, several obvious mercenaries, and the masked salamander from our encounter at the old guard post.

Advancing menacingly on an already bloodied Meryl were two of the mercenaries. Meryl was armed with a hatchet and a short spear that she wielded with a surprising amount of skill. She was, however, outnumbered and outmatched until Zee crossed the threshold, quickly dispatching two of the mercenaries.

Pulling her greataxe from her shoulder, Hilde remarked confidently, "Oh, now it's a party. Can I kill her this time, boss?"

"You can try," the masked salamander answered with no visible reaction as she crossed her arms. "You have until our targets are through the portal."

Zee didn't even slow her stride as two more mercenaries, a goblin and a werecat, charged her. Kicking the body of what appeared to be a fallen elf at the catgirl, Zee followed up with a two-handed swing that the goblin tried to block with a large hammer.

Cleaving completely through the haft of the hammer, the goblin went down screaming when her arm was taken off at the shoulder by the fierce strike. As a sickening amount of blood poured from the wound, Zee was already following up, grabbing the unbalanced catgirl to use her as an unfortunate shield against Hilde's first vicious attack.

Another swing of a weapon-another life ended for some infuriatingly inscrutable reason.

I figured Zee had to have the orc well in hand...and if she didn't, my actions wouldn't have mattered anyway. With that thought in mind and the pain in my foot completely forgotten, I dashed toward Meryl as she tried desperately to hold off a pair of green-scaled lizard girls.

One of the two enemies facing Meryl sidestepped and regarded my approach with amusement, facing me with a sword and shield. I had no idea if I could hope to match a mamono in a straight up fight, and I didn't really want to find out. Luckily, I had a longer reach than this lizard girl and had been beaten senseless by Zee's tail enough times to know how to deal with another one. Given that the pair of lizards hadn't yet brought down Meryl, I could also be assured that she wasn't as good as Zee.

Taking all of that together, none of it made me any less spineless.

I shot a look at Meryl and then at her opponent, hoping she would pick up on what I was thinking. She didn't make any outward acknowledgement, but she was certainly the more subtle between the two of us when such was needed.

"If you think I'm just some simple man you can smack around and then have your way with, you're sorely mistaken," I boasted as I circled around her. "Though if you surrender, I'll toss a pity fuck your way as a consolation. What do you say?"

Reacting as if she'd just heard one of the funniest jokes ever told, her eyes narrowed and a slow smile spread across her face. "I wouldn't let your festering whore's rod inside me. And if you think holding a weapon makes you more than a simple man then you've-"

Seeing Meryl move out of the corner of my eye was enough of a signal for me. I took two large steps and made a deep lunge-right at the lizard that was focused on Meryl, catching her in the back of the shoulder. The distraction allowed Meryl to bury her spear in the woman's chest.

Still unbalanced from my attack, I barely managed to deflect the incoming sword strike from my own opponent, taking a grazing slash to my side and then a shield bash to the face that threw me off my feet-just as Meryl tossed the wicked-looking hatchet at my opponent, catching her in the neck. I was only on the ground a moment before Meryl had me back on my feet as she ushered me toward the door.

"Zee can handle this...you can't be here, Joe. We have to go now," Meryl demanded, her tone not leaving the slightest room for argument.

With seven mercenaries on the ground and only two opponents left facing Zee, I wasn't terribly worried about the outcome...at least until what transpired in the next several moments.

After fighting Hilde to a standstill, Zee quickly began taking the upper hand. Still deceptively fast with such a large weapon, Hilde made a series of powerful attacks, forcing Zee into a defensive posture. After making several dodges backwards and to either side, the final attack in the sequence saw Zee vaulting forward over the massive greataxe to headbutt Hilde in the face, following up with a kick to the inside of Hilde's left leg.

As the orc could do little but howl in obvious pain from the two attacks and Zee was already bringing her weapon around to finish the orc, the masked figure finally moved. I say that she moved because she was no longer standing where she had been, now standing behind Zee with her weapon raised.

Before I could even shout a warning, Zee was already in a dive to her right. Had she been wearing her armor, the strike wouldn't have made any meaningful contact. As things stood, however, the masked woman drew a bloody gash across Zee's unprotected back.

Zee recovered far better than I would have hoped, coming up in a defensive stance as she scanned her opponent. My salamander companion then growled in an unfamiliar anger, turning and walking toward the lizard girl I'd struck, the fallen combatant still breathing but with a spear stuck in her chest.

The masked woman simply watched as Zee yanked the spear free and held it in her off-hand, all while Hilde struggled to her feet in an attempt to rejoin the fray.

With Meryl still trying to drag me from the house, I turned and angrily hissed at her, "What the fuck are you doing, Meryl?! What about your sister and the girls?"

Meryl didn't even hesitate as she slapped me hard across the cheek, her face pale and eyes already rimmed in red. "She wouldn't hurt them...but we have to go, now!"

" _Who_ wouldn't hurt them?" I asked.

The loud clatter of clashing weapons drew my eyes back to Zee as I watched her single-handedly holding off both of her opponents-barely. On nearly every exchange of blows between the three of them, Zee managed to land several hits on the badly flagging Hilde while managing to keep the masked woman from landing any telling blows. It was like watching a puzzle being assembled-if such could be done with the grace and precision of a ballet dancer.

Zee was still taking hits from the masked woman, but the many tiny cuts weren't adding up to much and it was clear that Hilde was barely still standing, the orc bleeding from a dozen wounds and her face already swelling where the spear shaft had connected on more than one occasion.

After another brutal exchange, Zee leaned in against Hilde and caught her descending axe at the top of its arc, her tail sweeping the orcs wounded leg. A fierce kick to the falling orc's face then sent her into a bloody tumble across the stone floor, removing her from the fight. Zee's cost for taking out Hilde was two small cuts across her upper chest from a pair of attacks that had been too quick for her to fully stop.

As Zee then turned to face the masked woman, a trio of figures appeared at the top of the stairs as a black portal opened on the first stair landing, across the room from us.

Coming down the stairs, I saw the witch Mira leading the two other figures toward the portal. Seeing me being pulled toward the door, the witch happily waved at me with both hands, flashing a wide grin as she advanced, unconcerned by the fight that was between us, toward the portal that had materialized.

The first figure trailing behind the witch, carrying the unconscious Risa gently in her arms, was Ixi, the undead dragon girl I'd seen in the Prosperity mines. The care with which she held the young mother was evidence enough to me that this was the genuine article.

I tried to blink away disbelief as I saw that the second figure. Stopping at the apex of the stairs with the two young twins held sleeping in her pale arms, her eyes burning with an unfamiliarly chilling violet flame as they focused in my direction, was the absolutely unmistakable form of the lich Delilah.


	30. Chapter 30 - Betrayal?

Chapter 30 - Betrayal?

-A long time ago-

"Our time is up, Dalatrix. The Lords have offered us sanctuary if we cast off our clans. A third of the clans are already scattered and broken, and the Bloodhorns will not be able to hold our lines more than another week at best. Even if their offer is a deception that will see us all dead, their willingness to let Leyla unleash the outworlder's forbidden sorcery upon us would see every single dragon as carrion within a decade anyway if we do not take that chance," a large draconic female pleaded.

"Unacceptable. It will take another full month for the sorcery to take hold permanently. We have two dozen of our clan undergoing the ritual and another dozen volunteers from the Bloodhorn and Suneater clans. Once this ritual is completed, our daughters will no longer have any reason to fear Leyla's metal thunder," the dragon Dalatrix protested, her wings extended slightly for emphasis.

The first dragon shook her head. "I wish this were a negotiation, old friend. With the exception of the Bloodhorns and you Skyrenders, the remaining clans have chosen to accept the Lords' offer. We will not be gone from battle for long-Charisse seems to expect that Leyla will not easily quit the field even after the coming surrender."

Spitting in disgust, Dalatrix beat her chest once in anger with a threatening growl. "Cowards! The mighty do not bow to the weak! Our Lord's reinforcements will be here within two weeks. If the remaining dragons dig in and prepare for a siege, we can at least hold them until-"

"No, Dalatrix! We are already undone. Our Lord's plan was discovered and the reinforcements were delayed by the enemy forces long enough for the entirety of Kaori's army to descend upon them. The rumors say Lord Kaori herself headed the assault," the other dragon hissed.

"Once this ritual is complete, it won't matter if-!" Dalatrix argued.

With a simple shake of the head, the other dragon turned to leave. "The additional term of our surrender is that you must end the ritual here. It is rumored that Agaraz is already in chains with Akuma soon to follow. I wanted only to warn you that by week's end, every dragon clan will have ceased to exist, either by pact or by fire."

A note of desperation creeping into her voice Dalatrix protested further, "You cannot be serious! Our clans have already sacrificed everything to see this ritual crafted. All of our treasures, our mates- _your_ mate-were traded to see this ritual crafted. We've spent entire treasure hordes of gold beyond that that we don't even have! If we can but endure until the ritual has taken hold upon our strongest remaining soldiers, we'll not only be able to reclaim those costs...but our pride as well."

"Consider our treasures and our...'pride' as the costs we must pay to atone for the crime of following our mad lord into this war. In time we could-"

Dalatrix fumed, stamping her clawed foot hard enough to crack the stone upon which she stood. "There is no dragon before me. Be silent and take yourself from my sight, worm. I and my clan would rather die as dragons than live as the fangless, destitute lizards your new masters would make us."

The other dragon began walking away slowly. "As you say. By week's end, you and your clan _will_ die as dragons. It's already been suggested by Charisse as a suitable test of our commitment to put down any clans that reject this offer. We'll see soon enough how well you fare against the 'fangless lizards' you once called brethren."

As the draconic envoy left the hall at the heart of the fortified keep that nearly a hundred dragons called home, Dalatrix called out for a messenger.

"Yes, my lady?" the small dragon asked, kneeling before Dalatrix.

The matriarch of the Skyrender clan swallowed hard, desperate to bury the rage that threatened to overwhelm her judgment, finally giving a defeated sigh before speaking. "Summon that miserable worm-tongued snake. Tell her…" Dalatrix hesitated. "Tell her that I will give her the ritual if she can save our clan."

-  
-Present Day-

Upon seeing Delilah, my mind was set afire in pitched battle as no single moment of thought could fully manifest. All at once I wanted to scream, flee, attack the lich, and beg for parley, the words to preface any of those options becoming a tangled mess of dangling participles and confused metaphors long before they could be voiced. But find a voice I must, and I could only hope it would be intelligible enough to diffuse the rapidly escalating situation.

Gathering all the sense I could muster in that moment, I drew breath deeply into my lungs before calling out as eloquently as possible, "Stupid pie, the fuck, why, fucking giraffe, who is...bitch!"

"Well said, Joe. Doesn't get more clear than that," Meryl found the nerve to tease, perhaps to salve the obvious crushing helplessness that I saw plainly written on her face.

Through the cruel violet flames in Delilah's eyes, I detected the briefest moment of...was it doubt? As she regarded me, it was as if time shuddered and ground to a halt. Her voice, barely louder than a whisper, seemed to trickle forth only to hit us all like a tsunami as the sound reached our ears.

"Joseph…" she said simply, that single word running as ice through my veins as she paused for only a moment before continuing toward the portal in silence.

"Delilah-Wait!" I finally managed, shaking off enough of my confusion to finally speak intelligibly. "What are you doing?! Why...are you working with these people? Didn't they take you? Where are you taking them?" I fired off questions in rapid succession.

As everyone else in the room stood mesmerized by our exchange, Delilah turned to me with sadness marring her gorgeous features for the briefest of instants, the emotion fleeing as quickly as it had arrived. "I simply convinced Mira of my long standing cooperative arrangement with Durand. Acquiring Risa and her children facilitates our shared objective, and the trust Risa has in my judgement assured that she was unlikely to resist if I were to appear before her personally."

Her eyes blazing anew with that angry violet flame, she spoke again. "Do you care for them as a husband and father, Joe? Or is this simply your pitiably misguided conscience speaking, wallowing as it does in the fantasy that every being deserves happiness, however unearned?"

Caught off guard by the apparent viciousness of her words, I began to stammer my reply, "I just…"

Despite her voice lacking any identifiable emotion, it was clear that her words were meant to cut me. "As I thought. Unless you would like to take a few moments to physically demonstrate to me how Risa came to be pregnant again, we have nothing more to discuss at this time, Joseph. As long as you make the appropriate choices, they will not be in danger."

"Pregnant? No...that had to be a one in a million shot!" I protested as knots started gripping my insides.

"Not when she's blessed, you unbelievable bastard," Meryl angrily retorted.

"Wait, you mean by a Lord? What the fuck?! Meryl...why didn't you tell me beforehand...or say anything afterwards?" I demanded.

Almost thankful to see her confused sadness being quickly overrun by her anger, she shouted back, "Right, obviously it's _my_ fault you had to fuck her in a filthy alley before coming home from the market. But that's what I really love about you-you always know how to bring a touch of class and romance to anything you do." She wasn't pulling her punches there, adding in a more quietly subdued voice, "And I _did_ tell you. Since you didn't seem to remember, she told me not to tell you because you'd probably get all weird about it."

Pretending that sex couldn't have consequences, until now among the most effective methods of birth control that I'd been using, falling just behind skipping town, had failed. No birth control worked a hundred percent of the time, right? Those mushrooms I'd been eating probably had antibiotic properties…

More seriously, I had no idea what to think or even how to react to the information I'd just been given. How could I have forgotten that Meryl had indeed told me that Risa had gotten Amarante's blessing? My memory wasn't known for being all _that_ selective, so I chalked it up to the memory of the Lord that had been brought to the surface right after she told me. The alternative was that I'd subconsciously decided to forget that piece of information to make our dirty street sex entirely guilt-free.

Shaking my head, I tried to respond. "I wasn't thinking at the time. But look, Meryl...we need to talk about this. Isn't this a big deal?"

"See?! You're getting weird already," Meryl answered angrily. "It isn't a big deal...really. We just need to find a way to finish our business with the Regard and then we can-"

"Before that," Ixi suddenly cut in, "Don't forget that I was promised a chance to show that salamander her place and...other things. I intend to have my duel with this lesser lizard now."

"Ixi! This is the worst possible time for that! I thought you were on our side," Meryl contested.

Shaking her head, Ixi answered, "No, this is the _only_ time for it. We all have a role to play in this, and this is part of mine. I also have my pride to uphold so I won't allow her to refuse this challenge. We're fighting."

Sheathing her twinned blades, the masked salamander spoke up. "That's fine if you really want to beat a corpse. This flower is wilted."

As if in answer to that statement, Zee took a small step forward to take her stance again and fell to a knee, her entire body shaking with weakness. She shook her head, and pulled herself back to her feet. "It'll take...far more than this to slow me down. If you want a duel, dragon, I'm-"

Shrugging in indifference, the masked lizard spoke up, cutting Azalea off before she could finish. "You should know when a match is over, Ashtail. You've lost too much blood and I won't let you deny me another rematch by throwing your life away on a fight with a dragon that wasn't good enough to hold onto her own."

Zee's shoulders sagged a bit as her eyes seemed to scan the floor, her frame quaking from what I thought was exhaustion. That delusion was dispelled when I saw her chin rise again and heard an angry, almost bestial, grunt from my salamander companion.

With her voice rolling over each word like molten steel with a fiercely deliberate growl, Azalea finally spoke. "I'm not an Ashtail anymore and neither are you...Dahlia." Even despite the steadily building anger in her voice, the last word she said may as well have embodied every single moment of sadness Zee had ever experienced. "No, _sister_ , I'll know when this match is over."

"I doubt that," the enemy salamander answered as she tossed her concealing helm aside to finally reveal features that instantly proclaimed a familial relation to Zee. "You and the rest of the legion didn't know when the _war_ was over. That bitch Keres was bought and paid for long before you hit Uruk...and she wasn't the only one."

"Why are you here?" Zee asked, numb to whatever else Dahlia was saying.

"Durand had me healed and promised me everything we could possibly need to rebuild the Legion. All I need to do is deliver that pet you're keeping and his family. It isn't that difficult to understand, is it? Everyone has a price...and protecting family is always the right choice, isn't it?"

Dahlia hesitated a moment before continuing, "I know what happened at Uruk wasn't your fault, Zee. You have to want to restore the Legion as much as I do and nobody is going to miss this human," Dahlia answered as she looked up at Delilah.

Delilah nodded to Dahlia as a pair of disembodied hands gently took Risa from Ixi's arms and carried her through the portal along with her twin children. "We will be waiting for you within Durand's palace, my husband. When your memories return, reflect upon all I have said to you. Even if you must hate me for what I have done...and will continue to do, I will cooperate with Durand until I have _fully_ repaid my debt to her."

The lich then turned toward the portal and said, just before passing through it, "As Dahlia said, everyone has a price. Antarylixi, do as you will."

As the lich passed by Ixi and into the portal, she placed her small hand on the dragon's back. With a howl of magical energy, the pallid tones of the grave vanished from Ixi completely along with the gaping hole in her chest, her flesh taking on the blush of life. She then stretched her draconic wings and leapt down to the floor to stand next to Dahlia, now void of any sign that she was one of the undead.

Ixi smiled at Zee and then turned to Dahlia. "Take Hilde and return through the portal. This is my fight. Have no fear-I will not kill your sister, Dahlia."

"Hmph. Trust me, dragon-I know you aren't going to kill her. And forget about the worthless orc, Durand said she either comes back under her own power or she can stay here," Dahlia remarked before heading up the stairs toward the portal. "It's only a matter of time before we'll see each other at Durand's palace. Until then just think it over, Zee."

"You're wrong about one thing, Dahlia," Zee said suddenly with a very pointed look at me. " _I_ would miss this man. And after all of this...you should know that when we get to Durand's palace gate, I can promise you that we won't be knocking." Zee then gave a military salute to her older sister, her body moving with a strength that looked only moments before to have left her completely.

Dahlia passed through the portal without another word, looking back at us one final time and shaking her head, an obvious smile on her lips.

Ixi sighed and looked down at Zee, placing one of her scaled hands over her breast. "I can see it in your eyes just as plainly as in my sister Meryl's-this man truly has a talent for taking hearts."

"You'd know, wouldn't you? Isn't that your mark on his face?" Zee asked as her serious expression faded slightly.

Snorting as she released a small puff of smoke, Ixi looked at me and then back to Azalea. "Yes, well...he doesn't remember that he claimed _my_ heart when I let him pierce it with his own hands."

"You _let_ him?" Zee asked doubtfully. "Isn't arrogance supposed to have some sort of limit? Do you even have anything to be so self-satisfied about? Every dragon I've ever seen in battle was like a suit of ceremonial parade armor-all flash and boast with no real substance."

"Yes, you little newt. I let him. The Bloodhorn clan doesn't make empty boasts," Ixi said.

"Oh, this is getting good. Yeah, I read something like that in one of my ancient military history books. Who knew they were accepting new members a few thousand years after they were all squished under the boot of us 'lesser beings'?" Zee asked derisively.

Ixi let out a low growl through clenched teeth, angry flames licking the air before her as she breathed. "For that, I'm going to make you watch as I 'let' Joseph's weapon pierce me many, many more times. You don't look like you have much left, but I wish I could show that other weak little salamander just how large the gap is between lesser lizards and true dragons."

Her voice starting to come with difficulty as her breathing changed completely, Zee's entire body moved with each breath she took, the flames of her tail dimming slightly. "If you think Dahlia's weak then I have more left than you can handle, Ixi. If you want to retreat to your other form, now is the time."

With a chuckle, Ixi cracked her knuckles. "I won't need my true form to humble a lesser lizard. Come at me when you're ready and I'll whip that misguided arrogance out of you."

I looked to Zee, seeing her breaths becoming deep and erratic while her body shook and trembled as though she'd been caught naked in a blizzard. She swayed on her feet as one of her clawed feet moved across the marble floor, making a dull scraping sound as it left deep grooves upon the stone in its wake.

As Ixi grabbed her hatchet and shortspear to stand ready, Zee looked up and fixed her gaze upon Meryl and I, her eyes bloodshot and her dark skin flushed as she spit two words at us. "Go. Now."

Meryl fought back hard against tears that refused to cease as she began pulling me toward the door. "We...need to go, Joe. This is going to be bad."

Looking down at my weapons with a true sense of futility, I resisted Meryl's insistent tugging as my eyes were drawn to the conflict about to erupt between the two red-scaled combatants.

It's hard to know if I was born lucky or if fate just wanted to watch the theatrical production of my life. Regardless, if I hadn't resisted, Meryl and I might both have been killed by Hilde's massive axe, the weapon flying past us to crack into the wall where we would have been standing only a moment later.

The powerful orc had been so badly beaten that she was almost unrecognizable. Blood covered her from head to toe from numerous cuts all over her body, one of her eyes was completely swollen shut, and her powerful stride had become a pained limp as she tried to carry herself with a broken leg.

"You think I'm going to let you or Durand take anything else from me, you sickly fucking whore? The lich, the wight...that fucking ritual…" Hilde continued to speak as she stalked toward us as the fight between Zee and Ixi began in earnest. "You're a tool, boy, and you have been from the moment you met Durand's pet lich. No more. If I'll never be able to fight for Kaori again anyway, I can at least spit in Durand's face by killing you as many times as it takes to make sure you stay dead."

With the thunderous clash of metal and the inhuman sounds of exertion that were coming from Zee's fight, I found it extremely difficult to keep my eyes on the advancing orc, despite my predicament.

"S-stay back! I don't want to hurt you," I threatened as I raised my weapons before me.

Her face was so mangled that I couldn't even make out her expression as she continued to slowly close the distance between us. "No, you miserable cowardly _insect_. I'll either have your life or a warrior's death. Right here. Right now."

Meryl, now without weapons, didn't even hesitate as she leapt forward to my defense. She landed two straight punches and a brutal haymaker on Hilde before I watched in horror as the orc reached out with surprising quickness and grabbed my youko companion by the throat.

To her credit, Meryl fought like a cornered wolverine, scratching and kicking with a fierceness born from either desperation or her protective instincts. As Hilde brought her fist across Meryl's face once...and then again, I felt my own body shake with the impact as sure as if I'd been the intended target. When the orc's fist recoiled for a third strike, I swallowed the rest of my fearful hesitation and charged forward.

I wasn't going to watch a woman I loved die right before my eyes and have to live with knowing that I could have stopped it. That moment of realization or admittance that I truly did love her filled me with an all-consuming need to make sure she knew it. The thought of actually hurting another person still made me sick, but if there was ever any reason for me to have started learning to fight...wasn't this it?

Sparing only a moment to glance at Zee, I saw the salamander completely absorbed in her duel with Ixi. It might have been worth sparing more than a passing thought to the unnaturally consuming focus the otherwise perceptive Zee had upon her fight.

Screaming as I attacked, I brought Tizona up across Hilde's forearm in a quick slash hoping to break her grip on Meryl, following the slash with two lunging thrusts that sunk into the orc's flesh, one above the elbow and the other into her shoulder.

As Hilde's one-eyed gaze turned back to me, she spat blood and threw Meryl across the room, my fox companion barely managing to catch herself as she hit the floor and began taking deep coughing breaths.

I felt the fiery chill of adrenaline as the orc brought her attention back to me. The hard press of reality overpowering my instinct to flee, I pressed the attack against the badly wounded orc. I connected with two more grazing thrusts before she threw herself at me faster than I could leap from her reach.

"You think this toothpick is going to stop me!?" she screamed as she tackled me to the ground, pinning my right arm as she began to mercilessly pummel my face and midsection.

With the wind knocked out of me by the very first impact and my armor managing only to keep my ribs from being completely shattered under the assault, I gave up on trying to wriggle free and threw my free arm up in defense and began taking vicious stabs with my long dagger, Colada, in the few moments when I wasn't being beaten bloody.

After I'd made nearly a dozen such attacks to her arms and shoulder, she was able to push my free arm away to deliver a crushing headbutt that felt like it broke my nose while managing to temporarily blind me. Unable to see clearly and tasting blood as the orc continued her assault, I threw away whatever thoughts I had left of technique and began to thrash wildly, my left arm frantically stabbing and slicing with Colada as I fought desperately to keep her from pinning that arm as well.

I couldn't get a solid angle of assault from my position and it was though my attacks were doing little more than pissing Hilde off. After a particularly strong elbow to my jaw left me reeling, I was pretty sure I wasn't getting out of this fight alive. No matter how hard I struggled, the orc's grasping hold, even weakened as it was, still felt like a cage of ever constricting steel bars that would inevitably crush the life from me. On top of that, she seemed to be enjoying the fact that I was still conscious as her brutal strikes started aiming to cause more pain than anything else.

I heard the sound of a wet impact from above me and could make out Meryl's form, armed with a club she must have pulled from one of the fallen mercenaries that she was repeatedly bringing down across the back of Hilde's head and neck in an attempt to kill or incapacitate the relentless orc.

For a brief moment after that first impact, I felt that unshakeable grip upon me loosen. The momentary freedom allowed me to get my right arm out from under her and push myself away slightly.

I was gasping for breath, covered in blood, and pinned beneath an enemy that wasn't going to stop her assault until I was dead. I couldn't reason with her and there was no way I'd have been able to escape. Nothing I'd ever felt before could have captured the twin feelings of exhilaration and sheer terror that gripped me.

While not having anywhere near enough room to actually use the longer blade, I didn't hesitate to use the space I'd been given to bring Tizona's elaborate swept hilt to bear as I began bludgeoning Hilde in the side of the head with every ounce of strength I had. She responded to my renewed assault with two brutal punches to my face, the second impacting me with a sickening snap and a rush of pain great enough to cut through my adrenaline-dulled senses like a razor as my orbital bone broke under the pressure.

Woozy and barely holding onto consciousness, I put everything I had left into a final fierce attack, my tenuous hope shattering when Hilde did little more than grunt from the force of my strike. With my attempts to use my longer blade in the grapple having long since failed and attempts to pummel Hilde hard enough to get free looking even more dicey, I began looking through blood and tear-filled eyes for anything else I could use as a weapon and came up empty.

After several more ineffectual slashes with my dagger, Hilde managed to pin me on my side with both arms held against the floor.

"When I'm done with you, I'm going to tear off that fox's skin. I've killed faeries that could hit harder than her," Hilde taunted as she started twisting and wrenching my spine in her iron grip.

Forced to look to my right, I saw Ixi spew a massive gout of flame at Zee, the salamander charging through it as though it was little more than a stiff breeze. Despite being marked by several more deep cuts and having looked exhausted before the fight even began, Zee fought the dragon with a fierceness that was in another league entirely from what she had shown me in our battles.

Zee was also moving in a way that was unlike anything I'd ever seen from her, each of her heedlessly vicious attacks driving Ixi back onto her heels only to be followed in combination by maneuvers that would have easily killed a less skilled opponent.

At first glance, the pair of them looked to be evenly matched...at least until I saw Ixi's face with a look of fearful disbelief after taking a wound to the shoulder from a descending slash that she hadn't been able to stop, even with both of her powerful arms having been put to the task of attempting to do so.

From there, it was over in seconds. As Ixi was still wincing in pain from the deep cut, Zee had used the opening to thrust her spear straight through Ixi's thigh and into the stone floor. Zee then howled as she raised and then drove her right arm down again. Now using the spear for leverage, her falchion broke Ixi's guard and drove straight on through her clavicle, carving a mortal wound into the otherwise undead being.

As Ixi gave up the last of her resistance and began falling, she gripped Zee's shoulder. "I won't give you...excuses. Thank you...Azalea...this is the only chance I had...to choose to fight you. You fought...like a dragon. I know I can trust you to keep...Joseph and my family safe...even from me when it...comes to that."

As the magically granted life faded from Ixi, her body dissolving into dust, Zee turned her violently bloodshot gaze in my direction. That look in her eye had me at nearly more scared than relieved even as I watched my salamander companion take two bounding steps before effortlessly tearing Hilde off of me.

"No! I won't let you take this from me!" Hilde screamed as she tried to break free from Zee's grip.

Pulling the orc's face close to her own to stare for several moments, Zee made a bestial chirping hiss and then hurled Hilde with inhuman might at the nearby wall, the orc's body breaking through the wall and the barred outer gate as her mangled body hit the cobbles of the street outside amid the large chunks of stone and metal debris. The sound of the impact was painfully sickening, the report of shattering bones and stone echoing through the house and well down the street.

My scaled companion then pulled me to my feet by the neck and looked at me with eyes that were completely clouded over by an unfamiliar rage or bloodlust. Looking into those steely eyes that only hours before I'd seen alight in loving passion, I saw only blood staring back at me. She wasn't holding me tightly enough to cut off my breathing, but I was no less worried about what she might do.

Interrupting the horror of this darkly intimate moment with Zee, I heard a shout as several members of the watch that had been conspicuously absent until now came rushing into the house.

Zee turned immediately, her breath quickening again as her body tensed for further conflict.

I dropped my weapons and reached out to touch Zee's face, whispering softly through her constricting grip, "Zee...don't. Aren't you...supposed to be my bodyguard?"

Several heart-stopping moments of tension passed before Zee blinked several times and shook her head, finally seeming to see me again. "Body...guard? I'm...your huckleberry, Joe. Wait...Joe? Oh lords!" she exclaimed as she released her grip upon me, setting me back on my shaky feet as the guards rushed in.

"Drop your weapons!" I heard one of the guardswomen shout.

"I wouldn't have hurt you, Joe. I'd never forget your face. But...I'm sorry if I scared you." Zee looked at me apologetically, the color quickly draining from her. "You handle the diplomacy part," she said with a nod...then fell onto her back.

"Isn't this where _I_ normally pass out?" I wondered aloud as I looked dazedly around at the carnage in the room.

One of the guards gently shook me as she spoke, "Sir, are you okay? What happened?"

I'm not sure how I managed to answer in the first place, let alone how I managed to come up with something that could have hoped to explain the scene around me. "The salamander and the youko are my friends. These other...people came through some sort of portal and attacked us trying to take me...my wives fought some of them off and ended up falling into the portal."

Trying to comfort me, the lamia guardswoman rubbed my back as she spoke. "You're going to be okay. We've got a medic on the way. We'll need to take you in for questions, but you won't be harmed in any way. Is there anyone else here?"

"I...don't think so. Just make sure Zee and Meryl aren't hurt, okay?" I said as I motioned to the fallen salamander, realizing in that moment that Meryl was nowhere to be found.

I know Meryl had been wailing on Hilde like a woman possessed at least until Zee pulled the orc off of me but I had no idea where the fox girl could have vanished to. The thought had me more than a little worried but it was getting difficult to focus on much more than the pain that hit me with every single breath.

A pair of guardswomen looked over Hilde's body before roughly picking the broken woman up on a makeshift stretcher and hauling her away. I couldn't see her breathing, but then I was fighting some meddlesome double vision that worried me about the damage to my eye socket.

However unlikely, if the orc _had_ somehow survived then she was beyond tough, even beyond what I'd ever have imagined possible for a mamono. "At least the guards are taking her into custody," I thought, hoping that there was a cell with walls thick enough to hold the murderous orc until the end of time, not entirely convinced that even death would slow that woman down now.

"I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, but don't worry. Everything is going to be fine, Joseph," the guardswoman said with an affectionate, motherly softness as she smiled at me with an oddly familiar set of bright green eyes.

That was weird. Had I already told her my name? I suppose I must have.


	31. Chapter 31 - A Worm's Tongue

Chapter 31 - A Worm's Tongue

I wasn't sure how I'd been able to stay on my feet after my adrenaline had finished running its course. To be certain, I wished I'd just passed out like normal after the snake-bodied guardswoman had me walk halfway across Alnor without any sort of break.

The green scaled lamia elected to carry Zee, helping ease a great deal of my worry on what might happen to my unconscious companion. Meryl was still missing but I was fairly confident in her ability to stay out of trouble in a city she'd lived in most of her life. I just had to hope that she was hiding and not another kidnapping victim.

After a long and increasingly irritating hike through crowded city streets and deep into the poorer parts of the city, we came to a very run down house. The windows were boarded up, any glass that might have once stood against the elements having long been shattered. While the nearby streets seemed to have been mostly free of refuse, there was a pervasive odor that reminded me of, but almost certainly wasn't, aged cheese.

Somewhere along the way, we'd managed to lose the rest of the city guards that had originally arrived on the scene. I'd have been more worried about what she had planned, but those thoughts were becoming increasingly tiresome when I considered how easily she could have her way with me-much in the way the world continued to.

When she opened the door and beckoned for me to enter, I did still hesitate. "So this is some sort of guardhouse?" With my cheekbone broken, even trying to talk was painful.

"You're smarter than that, Joseph. Now, hurry inside," the lamia answered as she gestured to the door.

This was _just_ what I needed today.

"Well," I wondered silently as I followed her into the small house, "I guess now's a good a time as any to start working on my criminal record."

There was little more to the room than a crude iron stove, a large bed, and an ominous door that appeared to lead to a basement, dark red light pouring into the room from between the many cracks in the weathered and battered wood.

Closing the door behind us and gently laying Zee on the bed, the lamia turned to me with an appraising look. "You don't recognize me, I trust?"

I shook my head. "Should I? I mean...your eyes seem sort of familiar."

"Eyes? Ah yes, that reminds me," she answered as she drew her fingers across her face. As her hand moved, it was as though her fingers were dragging the skin with it into oblivion...like she was erasing part of her face. When she finished, she resumed her appraisal of me, now through one green eye and one nearly featureless silvery orb.

I was too exhausted to manage anything more than a raised eyebrow. Was she trying to scare me? Did she know I'd just been nearly beaten to death by an enraged orc? It was going to take a lot more than a strange appearance to put me off. A beautiful woman with scars, even those as strange as hers, was still a beautiful woman and this lamia was most certainly breathtaking.

She failed to hide a slight smile as she spoke again, "My, but you are just full of surprises aren't you? My appearance normally draws a far different reaction. I can't say I dislike being seen as a woman again after so long, but we have important business to discuss. Take a seat on the bed and I will begin tending some of your wounds."

"Who are you?" I asked as I let my exhausted body hit the downy softness of the bed.

"I suppose that is an appropriate place to begin. I've learned nearly everything there is to know about you, after all," she began. This woman seemed quite fond of hearing her own voice, her words delivered as though my hearing them was supposed to be a reward for some unmentioned task. "Legally, I am your sister-in-law. My name is Medea, but you may know me as Wormtongue. Given the state of your memory and my lack of patience or desire to fill in the blanks, I'll simply confirm that I am Lareina's oldest daughter, older sister to Karisa, Meryl, and Ixi...among others that you may not have met or remember meeting."

"What do you want with me?" My question was curt and to the point. What may have passed as annoyance on my part, however, was actually just an attempt to avoid the pain of my broken cheekbone every time I spoke.

She began what I could only assume was a lamia's interpretation of pacing back and forth, her snake-like body doubling over itself each time she changed direction. "Until a few weeks ago, I wanted nothing from you beyond the knowledge that you were taking care of my younger sisters. A few hours ago I decided that I wanted also to protect you from any further observation by the Violaceous Regard. And then just a few minutes ago, I resolved to have a taste of the man my mother and sisters all find so irresistible."

I sighed. "Meryl said her family was a lost cause. If you can patch me up then you can do whatever else you want with me if you're so eager to see what all fuss is about."

She continued as though she hadn't even heard what I said. "But no, I simply couldn't. Could I? No matter. We'll cross that familial boundary when we come up against it." She slid toward me and lowered her body until she was at eye level. "For now I will do my best to mend these wounds and explain to you some of the details of your interesting situation. I have been contracted to move fate in a certain direction and you will need to know this for my efforts to bear fruit."

With a nod, I remained silent. She was going to have this conversation whether I was involved or not, and talking was more painful than it was worth.

Producing a vial of some sort of liquid, she had me drink it before she began speaking again. "While my sorcerous abilities have long been praised, my skill with life magic is...slightly less worthy of admiration. I can mend your bones, but you will have significant pain and bruising for the next few weeks unless you go see a more talented healer."

"Heal Zee first," I countered as I spared a look back at my companion, pleasantly surprised to see that she just appeared to be sleeping.

Completely ignoring me, she placed her hands on my face as warmth began to spread through me. "It's really rather unfortunate that I must keep your memory sealed. Though I suppose the dearth of emotion regarding many of these topics is preferable. Fate has taken a rather whimsical grasp upon your existence."

Whatever I'd just drank was quickly making me care a lot less about my injuries, numbing the pain better than an entire bottle of Vicodin. The pain was still there-boy, was it-but it was as though my pain receptors were too lazy to be bothered with fully informing me on what they were up to. At least her voice wasn't grating enough to harsh the buzz I was experiencing, the soothing sensations running over me in gentle waves.

She continued. "I suppose I'll start by saying that very nearly all of your misfortunes stem from a single point of genesis, that being the fact that you are carrying within you a rather potent and unique ritual. My orotund contribution to that masterpiece notwithstanding, the ritual itself is an etheric singularity aberrance-able to exist, indivisible, in only one place at any given moment. By managing to perfectly memorize at least some small part of the ritual when you saw it in Karisa's cart, you destroyed the original copy as the rest of the ritual followed that small piece and imprinted itself somewhere within your mind."

Regardless of the content, I couldn't see myself sitting down to read anything right after I'd arrived here, especially given that it was a mostly failed suicide attempt that got me to the island in the first place.

I also wasn't all that great at memorizing words or pictures without some sort of trigger, usually musical in nature, to hold it together in my mind.

"But that doesn't explain-" I began.

Undaunted by my attempt to make this a two-way conversation, she continued to speak. "While Durand believes she has an equal claim upon this ritual, I would like to emphatically state that she does not. Her Violaceous Regard has been hounding my family now for many thousands of years trying to retake it. She very nearly succeeded until you arrived. That ritual was to be delivered by my sister, under spiritually compelled service, to one of her agents-a lich with whom you are also familiar-before that one single act of fate placed it into your care."

I incorrectly took the brief moment of silence to be my cue to speak. "So Delilah was just-"

"Were you mamono, you could have simply used magical transcription to remove it from within you or, were you a more enterprisingly daring mamono sorceress, cast it yourself. Since you are neither of those, various questionable methods have been employed to try and remove it from your mind. Among those methods were several rituals, attempts at etheric germination after dangerously needless sensory destruction, and use of an oneiromantic artifact."

She may as well have been making up half of the words she was using. Even if I understood the _definition_ of the words, I couldn't have even attempted to grasp at any sort of actual meaning.

The only thing that did trigger a memory was the mention of "sensory destruction". I'm sure the other me said he'd been "fucked into a coma" by Karisa and Delilah. I didn't like trying to imagine that the entire time Delilah spent with the other me was simply toward the end of acquiring this ritual.

There had to be something I was missing. Meryl, Karisa, and even Zee may have possessed the social awareness to be exceptionally talented liars but Delilah simply didn't.

Delilah had never made any attempt to hide the unabashed love in her eyes when she saw or even spoke of the other me, and even her vitriolic statements from earlier could have just as easily been said out of jealousy as for any other reason.

Something more than a simple debt, however large, had to be motivating her actions. I'd never been more certain of anything.

"Delilah has been quite thorough in attempting nearly every possible angle, even going so far as to study my old research treatises. It seems unlikely that she would have missed the fact that if she'd used her necromantic skills to consume your dead spirit, she could have quite easily obtained the ritual...but I digress. Moving on to the Blessing of Ten Steps-"

Her rambling now stretching long past what I could tolerate, I bellowed at her in my frustration, "Jesus, could you just shut the fuck up?! How long are you going to talk?! It's like you're trying to speak as many words as possible without actually saying a damn thing!" Unfazed by her shocked expression, and fighting through the pain of speaking, I continued my tirade. "Durand wants a ritual. It's in my head. Delilah is helping her. That it? Because that was twelve fucking words. I don't need Richard's fucking monologue from Henry the 6th!"

She didn't seem angered by my outburst, instead taking a gentle tone when she spoke again. "I understand why you are upset, even if you haven't fully grasped it yourself. Often the heart remembers things that the mind does not, and not even the most potent seal could hope to bury memories as powerful as the ones that flourish within the sun-kissed, verdant demesne of your heart."

Until that moment, I'd felt like the entire world was against me. Every single time something had gone right, at least two things went wrong. Speaking to my demonic clone about the trials we'd each suffered only made me believe that more fully. Did I really deserve every injury and every subsequent insult that had been heaped upon me by fate? How was it fair that I had to suffer in the first place?

Medea's words plucked at the stilled strings that held the music of my emotions silent.

Meryl and Zee had stood by me, even knowing of the calamity that would follow me wherever I went. And even though I had no memory of them, I felt that Risa and Delilah would have done the same if only I'd had the courage to ask.

As Medea's mismatched eyes laid upon me in understanding it was like a scalding iron pressed against raw nerves. My gaze fell as I let the first of many tears loose.

My voice cracking as my composure gave way to the roiling mess of pained confusion that dwelled beneath, I asked, "What...am I supposed to do?"

Seeming to ignore my words yet again, Medea spoke quietly. "You will not have pity from me, Joseph. Everything will transpire exactly as it must. Our time is up, and it is now only time or the more gifted hands of another healer that will finish the work I've begun on your injuries. Meryl will be quite angrily bursting through that door in a moment and I should not be here when she does. I have an important appointment to keep." She paused a moment, looking uncertain for the first time before continuing. "You were family to me the moment you fell in love with my sister...and your family, current and future, will not let you shoulder your burdens alone."

With my face still held gently in her hands, she leaned in and kissed me without warning, her tongue lightly touching mine before she pulled away and spoke a final time. "Just a taste, Joseph, to help you remember the two things I am about to tell you. In the moment you find yourself forced to make the difficult choice of how to pay the terrible cost of the cursed blessing that was placed upon you, know that any of your family would gladly pay it instead. And no matter how this will all appear to play out...when things are at their darkest and it feels as though fate's vindictive hand has reached out to take everything from you, I will find a way to show you that I have averted its grasp."

Opening the other door in the room, I watched as Medea slithered down the stairs and out of sight, closing the door behind her without a single look back.

Within seconds, Meryl burst through the door, armed with Ixi's hatchet and short spear. "Joe!" she began frantically, calming when she saw no one else in the room beyond me and the sleeping Azalea. "What's going on? Where did that snake slither off to?"

"Down the stairs," I said as I gestured at the door, more to draw her focus away from my tear-stained face than to point out the only other possible egress.

Watching as Meryl slowly opened the door leading to the stairs, I blinked in disbelief when I watched it instead open into nothing more than the tiny alley behind the house and a fresh batch of the assaulting aroma of the neighborhood.

Meryl rushed to my side, setting the weapons down as she gently touched my uninjured cheek. "Are you okay? What about Zee?"

"Medea gave me something for the pain but I still hurt everywhere. It looks like Zee's just sleeping," I offered as I pulled Meryl closer to me. "Oh, and she's allegedly your oldest sister."

Her frown overcome with relief as she gently embraced me, she shook her head. "Sure, why not? What's one more at this point?" She pulled back for a moment to look me in the eye. "Wait, Zee or the snake?"

"You've all got almost the same eye color," I remarked with a grimace.

"Right, right...huh. I guess we do." Had she really never noticed? "So what did she say, then? Because I don't smell her on you very strongly and I don't think you were in here together long enough for even you to have snuck a piece."

Perhaps another time. "On top of all the worthless shit? Just that I've got some sort of ritual in my head and that's what the bad guys want."

"Wait, _you_ have it? I think that must be what Ajora had been trying to track down. I went through a few of her documents back at the house and it looks like she was into South Teremir for a massive pile of gold. Apparently that ritual was supposed to clear that entirely. What's the damn thing even for?" Meryl seemed excited to have cleared up at least part of this mystery.

"No idea. Medea just said it was unique, powerful, and could only exist at once place at any one time. Miranda seemed to know what it was as well and said that it was something that nobody should have. And then Delilah…" I trailed off, not sure where to take that statement or to where my emotions may have wanted to drag it.

Meryl sighed deeply, moving to sit next to me as she rested her head heavily on her hands. "I don't know, Joe. When I saw her taking Risa and the twins...and after what she said, I wanted to tear her to pieces with my bare hands. She's cold, powerful, and too damn smart for her own good."

After a moment of quiet, I chimed in. "I'm sensing a 'but' in there."

Lightly growling in frustration, Meryl continued. "But she's consistent. She was telling the truth when she said it wasn't a new development that she'd been working with Durand. But even if she's a terrible liar, she's good at keeping her mouth shut when there's something she doesn't want to say. And there _was_ a lot she wasn't saying...but damned if I have any idea what's actually going on in that spooky little head of hers. How she feels though...that's been written on every part of her from the moment I met her."

"I need to think about this and I want to get Zee's opinion too." I offered as I gently laid myself down next to the sleeping salamander. I then smiled up at Meryl and gestured to the spot next to me. "Lock the doors, there's room for three."

Pressed between the warmth of two amazing women, I was almost able to tune out the pain that began to return in the hours after Medea's tonic had run its course.

-

When I awoke many hours later, the worst of the pain had subsided to a symphony of dull aches that was easy enough to handle...as long as I didn't have the misguided audacity to move or speak.

I did feel a bit self-conscious seeing Zee and Meryl both staring down at me when I finally opened my eyes.

The pain would go away eventually. Maybe the disincentive to speak would improve the quality of the things I had to say. However unlikely, it was a pleasant thought at least. "Uh...was I talking in my sleep or something?"

"See?" Meryl joked to Zee. "Way too much fun."

"I like him better awake." Sitting up in bed and leaning against a boarded-over window, Zee pulled out her long absent kiseru. "Do either of you mind? I can step outside."

Meryl sat up and simply waved it off without concern.

Pulling myself into a seated position with a small grunt of pain, I put my back to the wall next to Zee. "That might depend on if you were planning to keep it all to yourself. What have you got in that thing?"

"Oh! I never even thought to ask," Zee answered sheepishly. "I'm not really sure what's in it. It's a fairly common blend in the desert but I've seen it for sale around here and in Kioko. My old friend John got me hooked on it ages ago...not long before he went and got himself killed in a drunken brawl with wurm."

I answered quietly, hoping to avoid upsetting Zee if he was still a sore topic. "This is the one you thought might have been able to beat you in a fight?"

Using her tail to ignite the kiseru, she took a long draw upon it before answering. "Whatever he did in your world, the only things I ever saw him do well were fighting, gambling, and drinking himself blind. He was like a candle burning from both ends." Zee's look became distant as she lost herself in thought. "I'll never know for sure if he could have been the one. I kept up the habit because it always reminds me of him and helps clear my head." She passed the long pipe to me with a smile. "It burns, so be careful."

Taking the kiseru, I tentatively drew upon it. She wasn't kidding about the burn in the slightest. The welcome pain brought with it several unfamiliar scents and flavors. I picked up saffron and tobacco among other things I'd never have been able to identify. Despite the burn, it wasn't unpleasant.

Just barely holding back the powerful urge to cough long enough to clear my lungs, I passed the pipe back to Zee. "Maybe this'll help take the edge off of some of this pain, thanks." Turning to Meryl, I continued, "Did you already tell Zee what Medea told me?"

Meryl hopped back onto the bed next to us. "Yeah, but even knowing what they're after doesn't help us all that much. If you ask me, we only have two options-We can either just give the damn thing to her-assuming that won't just get you killed-or we can try to find a way to get it out of your head."

Feeling a slight flutter from the influence of whatever was in Zee's kiseru, I turned to the salamander. "What do you think, Zee?"

Continuing to absent-mindedly draw from her stylized pipe, Zee pulled her legs into a half lotus position. "I think there's only one option. We don't know what this ritual is or what she could do with it. There's got to be a reason Meryl's family has been trying to hold onto it this long, right? I think the only way to end all this is to kick in Durand's castle gates, cut through anyone or anything that tries to stop us, and settle this whole thing with a few solid feet of properly delivered steel."

Both options were filled with unknowns. Assuming I wouldn't just die from whatever process Durand intended to use to get the ritual out of me, what if giving the ritual to her just put us in more danger? Would it even be possible to remove it from my head in the first place? What sort of defenses would Durand's palace have? Did we even stand a chance with a direct assault?

I scratched at my chin as I pondered over the possibilities. "Is there any way to attack her financially? Isn't her entire organization just a glorified trading house?"

Meryl's tail swished behind her with renewed vigor as she answered. "It's possible, but we'd be taking a massive risk. But you know I'm on board for whatever crazy shit you want to try, Joe."

Zee didn't look pleased as she countered, "I already mentioned this before but nobody just _buys_ the loyalty of a Kaori general, no matter how disgraced or close to the executioner's block she might be. And restoring the Ashtails...would take a lot more than just gold. Dahlia isn't an idiot so Durand must have found a way to prove she could deliver on that promise. No matter how you look this, we're either going to be outmatched or going in blind."

"Is there anyone we could get to help with...well...any of this?" I asked, already wishing we had a better option.

"Maybe that witch Miranda," Meryl offered. "But I'd trust a swarm of imps to guard a pie shop before I'd trust her with anything. Based on what you told me, she knows too much and her potential motives are even more dubious. We might have stepped into all this shit by accident, but no sane person would go out of their way to make an enemy of one of the larger trade guilds on purpose. If we could at least get the damn thing out of your head-"

Extinguishing what was left in her kiseru, Zee cut in with a frustrated tone. "If Delilah wasn't strong or skilled enough to get that thing out of him, we could just be putting Joe in even more danger if we actually manage to find someone that could remove the ritual. You also said this Violaceous Regard has eyes everywhere-the moment we start looking, they're just going to pour on the heat again."

Among the three possible options we had, not a single one among them was better than a crap shoot, but we'd need to make a decision.

Seeing Meryl and Azalea staring at me with growing expectation told me that they wanted me to decide. "So I have to pick something?"

Meryl and Zee nodded together as Meryl spoke up. "Zee and I are in total opposition here. We don't know enough to say that any one choice is better than any other so...you may as well choose and we'll just stick with you no matter what you decide."

I couldn't trust Miranda or Durand and an assault on Durand's palace meant facing the same unknown force that had been able to recruit a Kaori general and Azalea's own sister. A wrong guess there would probably see us all dead.

That really only left one option open. Being completely destitute was probably better than being dead.

"In that case...start counting out our coin. After we stop by to see a healer, we'll need to get to work. We're going to bring down South Teremir Mercantile."

-

-Elsewhere-

Wormtongue angrily prodded her apprentice. "Do you have the scrolls? Have you memorized Tarsia's mana theorems as I asked? What about the readings on the crystal substructure and the-"

Growing annoyed with her master's increasingly strange and demanding requests, the young succubus curtly interrupted, "Yes. I have everything you asked. I know where to be and when and I'll be spending all of the rest of the time between now and then preparing. Was there anything else you needed before I begin? I don't think you've left out a single detail."

"Every detail but one. Now that you well know what is at stake in this...I release you from your contractual binding, Phina." Medea placed a hand upon the young succubus. "Do you know why?"

Exhaling in relief, Phina smiled for the first time since she'd been brought to Wormtongue's sanctum. "Because you think I'm going to fall for him? Or maybe because you'd never be able to hide the fact that you're just a huge softie all the way through to your warm creamy center."

Medea smirked at that. "Nonsense. I'm a cold-blooded villain and I always will be. And you shouldn't make predictions of the heart so flippantly. He _is_ your type, after all."

Phina gave an angry harumph. "Oh sure, every girl wants her first time to be with a whore. He'd fall dick-first into anything that even reminded him of a woman. At least he's dedicated to his profession, not many whores would volunteer to do so much work entirely pro bono."

Medea gave a light laugh at that. "That was as rich a statement as I've heard from any succubus. He could always fall for you."

"He'd better not or we're going to have words, you and I," Phina answered back as she re-shouldered her satchel of arcane materials.

Holding her smile a moment longer, Medea then turned serious before she gravely said, "This storm will grow much worse before the sun will lay its touch upon the earth again. I won't ask you to die for this."

Matching her teacher's tone, Phina answered simply, "You'll never have to. I'll do what needs to be done. If you can deliver me a miracle, it would be rude not to return the favor."

Medea nodded and then ushered the young succubus to a simple wooden door. "You must go now. She will arrive any moment and your discovery could throw fate's plan into chaos."

"What plan would that be?" a voice suddenly asked from behind the echidna.

Pushing the young succubus quickly through the door and even more quickly attempting to close it, Medea was unable to prevent the two visitors to her sanctum from meeting eyes.

In that instant, barely longer than the time it would take to blink, Phina realized that her instructor was grossly understating the darkness that was soon to descend and how difficult Phina's job had just gotten.

Closing the door with an audible curse, Medea turned to face the lich Delilah. "I'm surprised you found this sanctum so quickly."

Delilah showed no outward emotion as she answered. "Save your lies. You intentionally bound yourself to my husband's fate with your kiss, leaving a trail that was meant to be discovered. That you planned this is patently obvious, but your reasons for doing so are...difficult to ascertain."

Medea closely observed the lich, smiling as she spoke. "The fact that he is family is enough. Ah, now that I've seen you, Delilah, the reasons for _your_ actions have given themselves to me...much as your husband very eagerly would have a few hours ago."

Frowning at Medea's statement, Delilah took a step forward. "I will not let you stop me. I am more than a match for you, even here in your sanctum. _Nothing_ will stop what has been set into motion."

At that, Medea gave a hearty laugh for several seconds, smiling as she answered, "I wrote the spell you used to find me, Delilah. The taste of every sorcerous trick you could attempt lies thick in the air." Medea let her tongue flutter in the air, much like an actual snake before she continued, "Your husband will bring this to a proper conclusion...and my apprentice will guarantee that this ends as it should."

Taking another step forward, Delilah's eyes flared as the gathering demonic energy threatened to crack the walls that surrounded the two women. "Do you intend to resist?"

"Don't be silly. Ask yourself why I truly bound myself to your husband if you still fail to understand. Whoever could I be protecting?" Medea turned her palms toward the ceiling in a show of non-resistance.

"I...do not understand," Delilah whispered, her voice still loud enough to echo with the power of the energy she had gathered.

Medea's smile took on a soothing motherly quality as she slithered forward and placed a hand upon Delilah's pale shoulder, her fingers trailing up the lich's sensitive skin to rest upon the collar she wore as proof of her wedded love.

"The fact that _you_ are family is enough, sister. I will leave the rest to fate, to Phina...and to you."

Delilah's eyes flashed again, more fiercely as her magic spilled out and around the smiling echidna, hardening into crystal as it sealed Medea within. Mira stepped forth a moment later from another of her dark portals.

"What was she even talking about?" The witch asked. "Fine, whatever," she added with no small amount of distaste after receiving only silence in response. "Don't take too long, these take a lot of energy to keep open and you took your sweet time earlier." She stepped through the portal a moment later, wearing an obvious scowl.

"You fool…" Delilah whispered as she ran her fingers across the smooth crystal, wiping away a single tear before drawing up the hands of the dead to carry the imprisoned echidna, bringing Medea with her as she somberly followed Mira back through the portal.


	32. Chapter 32 - Failing to Plan

Chapter 32 - Failing to Plan

"Ow! Do you even know what you're doing?!" I screamed, likely calling my age and gender into question given the amount of little girl I was channeling.

The succubus healer we'd found was not amused by my question. "I half enjoy the screaming, but if you complain about my treatment one more time, I'm going to throw you into the harbor with a brick sewn to your testicles. You're paying me to treat you and not ask questions; not to listen to your whining."

As much as I wanted to complain about the dirty house, questionable healing tools, and even more questionable health care provider, Meryl had been able to determine that we were still being sought for questioning over what had happened at Karisa's house.

We were pretty sure we hadn't done anything illegal, but Meryl convinced us that we needed to get our stories straight before answering any questions. Well...that and none of us wanted to explain why it looked like I'd been beaten by a grizzly bear wielding two smaller yet equally deadly grizzly bears as weapons.

That meant that, rather than using my exceptional (and well earned) whore's benefits to see a well-regarded healer in a clean part of town, I needed to survive a back alley sawbones that seemed to enjoy causing pain.

"Fine, I'll try to stop bitching. It just really-Ah!-hurts…" I grudgingly conceded.

The succubus smirked in satisfaction. "That's what I thought. You might be a whore, but I'd love to watch you try to tell the guard that these wounds came from a rough client." She was silent a minute as her expression grew into a smile. "But if you _like_ it that rough, I could forget the bill here if you want to settle up the old fashioned way."

"As truly tempting as that offer sounds, I'm going to have to pass," I answered as politely as I could with various needles being jabbed into me in seemingly random places as part of the so-called treatment.

"Your loss," she said dismissively as she returned to work.

Trying to ignore the pain, I turned to my companions as they quietly looked on. "So I know I tried to sound as cool as possible when I said it, but how do we even bring down a large trading house like South Teremir?"

"Legally?" Meryl began as she began absentmindedly playing with her tail. "I thought you were going to have some ideas because I already told you they're way out of our league."

I had a handful of very rough ideas at best. Without a lot more information on what they actually did, the whole thing would end up as a fruitless venture. "Well, what's their primary business focus?"

Meryl shook her head. "Don't even try going down that road. They make most of their gold on protection and facilitation of huge inter-region trades across the island. That's not a market you can just hop into."

"Way back before the war, South Teremir hired on an entire third of the Ashtails once as backup for their own team to handle some sort of transportation job," Zee added. "Their personal security is probably on par with a large mercenary company. They were one of the only groups that still ran the desert trade routes to Kioko during the war. Honestly, I'd love to try fighting a few of them some time."

"So even if we were feeling naughty, trying to hit their shipments would be a losing proposition with anything less than an actual army. If they've been doing fine with two-three? civil wars going on the island, what the hell sort of dent could we even make in them?" I asked, starting to strongly doubt that any sort of conventional approach was going to work.

Meryl smiled sadly as she let go of her tail and leaned back against her chair. "I really hoped you'd have another one of your insane ideas, Joe. I guess there really isn't anything we can do, huh?"

No, that didn't seem right. Based on what I'd been told, I'd indirectly burned them in the market twice before and now they were likely to be watching anything I did. Maybe it wasn't a matter of going after them...but getting them to come after _us_.

The thought certainly got the gears turning, but we still needed a solid angle on how to approach the concept.

I cracked my knuckles as fragments of the idea started to come together in my mind. "Have you met me? No, there are things we can do...but I think we're going about this the wrong way. They're too big to attack directly without more gold than we'll probably ever seen in our lifetimes and we'd never be able to compete against them directly. Since we can't go after them...I'm trying to think of some ideas to get them to go for the carrot while we give them the stick."

Her ears perking up as her tail began to swish about excitedly again, Meryl's attempt to keep a neutral expression on her face was adorably pointless. "Well, you _are_ a delicious target out there in the big bad market," she said as she lightly tickled my legs with her soft tail.

"Not now, Meryl. I'm trying to-wait," I paused, as a storm of possibilities flooded my mind. "How delicious?"

"The best thing I've ever tasted," Zee suddenly declared, looking away in embarrassment after realizing what she'd just said.

Meryl laughed softly and added, "What Zee said."

"Damn it, I meant-I mean...thank you. That's...um...very sweet of you both," I said with no small amount of scarlet coloring my cheeks. "I meant would my involvement in a risky deal be enough to draw in a lot of interest?"

Raising an eyebrow, Meryl answered, "Getting a little full of yourself? Not to be insulting, but even if you are an amazingly delicious man, you're just _one_ man."

I needed to break this down into smaller pieces. Without more background, I could have easily been talking about whoring myself out to the entire island.

Trying to remain still for the painful medical treatment despite my growing excitement, I tried to clarify what I meant...and make certain I had a good grasp on how this city worked. "Let's start basic. If I racked up...say...a million gold debt that I'd never be able to repay, what would happen?"

Still not with me yet, but already starting to smile at what sounded like it was about to be one of my so-called 'insane' ideas in the works, Meryl answered, "Well, anyone that can't pay off a debt can be forced into indentured servitude by the debt holder until it's paid off. Mamono can sometimes choose exile to clear their debt, depending on the circumstances...but men probably wouldn't be given that option for obvious reasons."

"So far so good," I thought to myself as I continued aloud, "Well, that ritual in my head should be extremely valuable to Durand. If my possession of it somehow became public knowledge while I was getting myself into a bunch of very risky ventures...it might prompt more people to bet against me in the hope of owning me as an indentured servant, right?"

Her excitement stalling, Meryl frowned. "Hold on, that's-no, that might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. If that ritual is as valuable to Durand as I think, she'll offer enough to set the entire city against you! No trick, legal or otherwise, would get you clear of that shitstorm. Did that orc knock something loose, Joe?"

I smiled a bit "That's exactly what-"

Suddenly snorting in subdued laughter, Zee leaned forward and spoke, "Oh, I get it. I hate giving the tricksy bitch Charisse credit for anything, but she pulled something like this a few hundred years ago against the Rock Spine bandits."

"Oh?" I asked, curious if she really did get it and hoping that her perspective might bring Meryl around at the same time.

She perked up at my obvious interest and continued, "So there was this tiny town at the far edge of the mountains, right near the sea. Charisse had been sending troops down there for years and all she got back were bodies and reports of mass defections. At her direction we scouted the entire area out and found that, even though there wasn't more than a few hundred bandits, it was going to take a massive force to take the place and more to hold it."

Meryl shook her head but leaned in closer anyway. "I must be missing the point of this but now I want to hear how this turned out."

Zee nodded and continued, "Rather than a real force, she sent the worst soldiers she could find, stocked with more food, supplies, and _men_ than I'd ever seen for such an undertaking. Well, when these soldiers got there, they did exactly as you'd expect-threw a massive feast, then an orgy, and then probably some mix of the two. The bandits actually held off for a good week, assuming it had to be a trap. It was...but not the way they thought.

Charisse had snuck one or two competent agents into that mix that set about making a huge mess of everything. They left food out to spoil, dirtied the water supplies, and left the men to their own devices to be picked at by whichever soldier felt up for a go. It was a disaster."

With a frustrated grunt, Meryl shook her head as she retorted, "And these elite agents let the bandits be lured in and killed them all in their sleep, right? I already said this but nobody would have a chance against-"

Zee cut her off with a scowl, adding, "Damn it, Meryl! Let me finish. And no, these agents finished their work and then headed back to the Lost Ruins. Two days later, the bandits hit and killed every single one of those soldiers, took the city, and started having their way with the 'spoils'."

It looked like Zee definitely did get what I had in mind. I waited for the big finish with a smile as Meryl just shook her head in confusion.

Scratching one of her ears, Meryl made a befuddled growl. "So they lost on purpose? How does that possibly help us?"

"Oh, this is the best part," Zee said as though finishing a ghost story around a campfire. "When the bandits started to settle in, the 'trap' was sprung. After Charisse's agents had fouled the city from top to bottom, the place had become infested with Devil Bugs...and it was only a few days later that the Beelzebubs showed up too.

Things got violent fast and ended just as quickly as these 'conscripts' handled every single bandit for the Lazy Lord. Charisse gave it a few months to clear out afterwards and the place hasn't had problems with bandits since. All it cost her was a few thousand gold worth of food and supplies, a half-dozen men, and the worst soldiers in her army."

"That's pretty much exactly it, Zee," I said with a wide smile. This woman never ceased to amaze me.

"Wait just a minute," Meryl began as her eyes slowly widened the plan having already slid into place as her mind started running over the possibilities. "...But how would we-no, we could...oh! I've got to-no, we need to go!"

"I'm done here if you want to go do...whatever it is you want to do," the sadistic succubus said, pulling to me to my feet and smacking my ass.

Meryl looked like she was going to bounce out of her shoes as she excitedly said, "We just need to get Durand to make an offer for that damn ritual and everything else will-oh, this is so good. Lords, I love you Joe!"

I blushed a bit as I looked to Zee and then the succubus before looking back to Meryl, seeing that the beautiful youko was the only person in the room that hadn't fully noticed what she'd just said.

As her embarrassment finally caught up to the rest of her, her face went as red as an autumn sunset as she stammered, "I-I mean-"

Finally free from my healing torture, I slipped an arm around her and gave her a tiny kiss before answering with a genuine smile, "I love you too, Meryl. Let's go."

Meryl nearly swooned in my loose grip as I grabbed her hand. I turned back to Zee fully intending to tell her the same thing I'd just told Meryl to see the salamander already on her feet.

Stopping my heart in worry for a moment before her expression told me that she may as well have read my mind, Zee smiled as she said, "It's about damn time. Now...let's go get into some trouble."


	33. Chapter 33 -Setting the Price on Failure

Chapter 33 - Setting the Price on Failure

The first step in our plan was to get an offer from Durand on what she wanted from me. If she offered enough, I was pretty sure I could get the rest of the plan to fall into place without issue.

Meryl had sent a message to South Teremir Mercantile offering them a chance to purchase the very ritual I'd been cursed to carry. She seemed confident enough that she could get a good first offer out of them and she'd never given me a reason to doubt her ability to spin a good yarn.

Her face, however, was ashen as she looked over the response we waited only a short two days to receive. Her demeanor changed little as she read what was on offer.

"Are you shitting me? A hundred? That's fifteen minutes at a decent brothel!" I protested, conveniently knocking over the glass of bad wine I'd been pretending to enjoy.

-

It had been a hectic few days answering questions for the guard and coordinating with masons and other craftsfolk to have Karisa's house repaired while laying the groundwork to attempt my plan. Even with all of that on my plate, I knew things were going to get a lot more crazy before this plan fully materialized.

Despite being separated from my companions nearly a half-dozen times to be asked if I was _certain_ that I wasn't being held against my will, our interrogation by the Alnor guard had gone quite smoothly.

I elected not to press further charges against the mercenaries beyond the assault. Despite the scene of carnage that I witnessed, and perhaps owing to the exceptional efficacy of magical healing, none of the mercenaries actually died. A few, however, were left short a limb or two.

When I asked what had become of the orc Hildegard, the guard responded only with a grave shake of her head. Sure enough, it seemed that near-immortal woman had finally been brought down for good. I certainly didn't feel good about it, but it did give me a bit of peace to know that the crazed orc would no longer be after me.

-

Shifting my thoughts back to the present, I continued, "Tell her I'll find a way to destroy the damn thing before giving it to her for a hundred-"

"Million," Meryl whispered to interrupt me, letting the parchment fall from her shaking grip. "A hundred million. I...just don't even…" she trailed off before swallowing hard to continue. "Joe, that's more than ten times the value of every single thing Risa and I own put together."

Even with everything I'd learned of the markets in this city, I didn't have an exact frame of reference on the real value of that much coin. Just based on the ledger value, it was enough to buy Karisa's home fifty times over with plenty left to spare. It was more than I or most folk could ever even dream of seeing.

What the hell was this ritual supposed to even _do_?!

It was also a problem. If Durand could offer such a ridiculous sum as her opening offer, how deep did her coffers go? Did my plan still even have a chance of working?

"Well, that should be enough to get plenty of people lined up to see me crumble, right?" I joked, hoping to lighten Meryl's suddenly darker mood while ignoring my own growing thunderhead of doubt.

Gingerly picking up the piece of parchment, Meryl set it down on a small nearby table and slumped into the chair next to it, her head in her hands. "This contract bears the seals of their trading company, the Teremir council, and an Alnor interim minister of trade. She guarantees your life and safety in the exchange as well. I...think maybe we should take the offer, Joe."

I'd never seen Meryl so serious or so reserved in any financial matter before. Even the parchment upon which the offer had been printed seemed to frighten the normally fiery youko.

Before I'd really gotten to know Meryl, I'd have been infuriated by her suggestion. The two of us weren't all that different in a lot of ways-both willing and able to be sensible but given to diving into situations head first.

Even if it sounded like she just wanted to cut and run, I already knew that there was more to it than that. That kind of sense just wasn't in her nature or she'd have taken the half-dozen or more good opportunities to wash her hands of me since we'd met. I kept my voice quiet and even as I softly spoke. "What's this really about, Meryl? Sure, it's a lot of coin, but this doesn't feel like you at all. Talk to me."

Zee stood and gently patted my shoulder, smiling softly as she lightly stepped from the room. "I'll be out in the courtyard if either of you need me."

Looking up at me as she fought back tears that had been trying to spill their way free for quite some time, Meryl tried to smile even while her entire body told a different story, even her ears almost completely flat against her head. "I know this isn't me. I feel less like 'me' every day something else goes wrong or someone I love is taken away. This is just the first time I've felt like...maybe for the first time you're _mine_ to lose. Thinking I'll lose you makes me feel like I'd also lose me, and if this contract guarantees your life…"

"It doesn't have anything to do with the gold?" I asked, doing my best to avoid sounding accusatory.

"Fuck the gold, Joe. I don't care about having money...I just get excited when I think about making it," she declared plainly. "But this contract doesn't say a damn thing about my sister or my nieces. I know right now you might not care, but-"

"No, Meryl," I cut in, continuing with a sigh, "Look, I know that those memories are still rattling around in my skull somewhere. I do care. I'd care even if it was only because of their relation to you, but I know that it's more than that. Miranda needing to renew that seal made it as clear as day. One day I'm going to remember-I know that...and I'd never be able to forgive myself for making the wrong choices without understanding what those choices are going to mean to me. Not to mention that Risa is pregnant with my child _now_."

Meryl smiled weakly, perhaps seeing that last fact as one more defeat at her younger sister's hands. "Even if we can't trust Durand or what she'd do with that ritual...these seals are genuine. She's been in business for 5,000 years or longer and there's no way she'd renege on this contract. But I can't stop thinking that, if agreeing to this contract protects your life, is rejecting the contract guaranteeing that it'll be in danger?"

I didn't know enough about Durand or the way she did business to know for sure. If I was in her position, I'd have tried to make it clear that Meryl's suggestion was exactly how the other party should feel at seeing such an offer.

I reached down and pulled Meryl back to her feet and into a warm embrace. "That means neither choice is a good one, Meryl. What do you want to do?"

Her hands reaching up to wrap around my neck and shoulders, Meryl held onto her composure by a thread as she answered, "I want to settle down with you, my sister, Delilah, Zee...and I don't even care how many more you pick up along the way. I want to be the me that's with you."

"You know what I meant," I answered softly as I gently stroked her sensitive ears.

She nodded as she sniffled a bit, nuzzling her head into the nook between my neck and shoulder. "I used to love gambling, Joe. I learned early that the trick is never betting more than you can afford to lose. Well, I can't afford to lose any of this." She then backed up a bit to look me straight in the eye, her tears replaced with determination. "But sometimes when you're in deep enough, you don't have any choice but to play so I'll do what I promised myself I'd do the moment I saw you in Kioko. If I can just as easily lose either way, I'll just bet everything on you and whatever bullshit you want to try."

Way to lay on the pressure…

I forced a smile as the pressure threw my resolve down a flight of stairs. "Even though everything I've touched since coming to this place has vanished, turned to shit, or turned against me...I'm not giving up. I don't care how selfish or arrogant it is, but I'm not quitting until I have it all."

Squeezing Meryl a bit more tightly, I continued, "And if Durand thinks she can keep any of it from me, then we'll at least make her pay dearly for the attempt. We're doing this like we planned."

"Okay," she said softly, her face an unreadable mask of mixed emotions. "I've already got almost everything ready to go. We could lose everything on this...more than everything. B-but I…" she hesitated before bringing her eyes back to mine in renewed conviction. "I love you, Joe. Even if this ends up getting all of us killed, exiled, or thrown into chains...I'm not going to regret that you're enough of a reason to do this. Piss on the odds; we're playing to win."

I pulled her in closer and left a kiss upon her sensitive neck. "You know...there are other benefits to sticking with me and my insanity. I could sweeten the pot."

Gasping softly as she let her limbs become entangled with mine, she giggled before answering, "Then you'd better refresh my memory. This feels like betting on blind centaur races all over again."

I opened my mouth to speak but couldn't come up with a suitable response. "Uh…"

"Just shut it!" She blushed and shoved me away slightly. "Aren't there better things you could be doing with that mouth of yours?"

"I'm sure I'll think of something," I answered with a smile as I pulled her toward me, silencing both of us with an impassioned kiss that rapidly escalated into some less chaste.

-

It had almost become a habit to pretend as if I knew everyone that seemed even remotely interested in talking to me. I didn't want to upset anyone that I might have befriended in my old life and at least _some_ of the conversations turned out to be more than overt sexual propositions. With the need for allies on the rise, I also wasn't in a position to be picky.

With that thought in mind and a mouthful of the only cooking I'd had in this world that was better than Karisa's, I ladled praise upon the chef that had come by to make small talk at the Winter Court Bistro. It became quickly apparent that he knew me at least a little and our small talk eventually turned to something a lot more substantive.

Taking a look around at the thinning late evening patrons of the restaurant, Patrick's ever present smile faded to a look of slight concern as he spoke. "I don't mean to pry but you look even worse than the last time you were in here." He then looked at Meryl and Zee before taking a shot in the dark, "Married life wasn't suiting you?"

A swing and a miss.

His look of genuine concern was going to make it impossible to wave any of this off with one of the canned responses I had been using with everyone else. That look, perhaps coupled with the wine, had me feeling comfortable enough to answer him truthfully.

"Would you believe me if I told you that my wives and children had been taken by an ancient evil bitch to get something from me?" I asked in an acerbic sarcasm that only intensified over the course of asking the question.

"If it's the usual then couldn't she just pay you for it?" He replied, making it clear what he thought I was talking about.

Strike two...but who's counting?

I shook my head. "No, it's not the usual. I appreciate the concern but I don't want to jaw you to death spilling my entire sad tale. Let's just say that right now I'm working on a way to fight this particular evil bitch and it's probably going to require more financial backing than I'll be able to come up with unless I stumble across some sort of miracle."

"Financial backing?" he asked, suddenly intrigued. "You know...since I feel like I owe you for getting Aeval off my back for a good two weeks with that wonderful outfit you're wearing, I _might_ know somebody that could help. Aeval is a terrible gossip and looked into you after you visited last time. Are you planning something with the market again? Hopefully not testicles again or I might have to wonder why you don't come to see me more often."

I chuckled a bit. If information on me was that easy to dig up, this plan might be a whole lot easier to pull off. "God, no...not testicles. And you _could_ say that it involves the market. Actually...if your friend is interested, she could make a huge pile of coins by working with me on this."

"This friend is of the masculine persuasion and usually only gets to wear the pants when he's with me, but his mistress might be interested." He smiled meaningfully at that, making me realize that aside from Patrick here, there probably weren't many other men on the island that might have been able to claim to be more misfortunate than I. "She's definitely among the Alnor elite. I'll mention it the next time I see him. It couldn't hurt and you can't blame me for giving attractive men reasons to visit beyond the cooking."

I tried not to get my hopes up about this possibility but I couldn't fully contain my excitement at the prospect. "I'll model bikini underwear for you if his mistress and I come to an agreement. By all means, pass my offer along."

"I'm going to hold you to that. Sure, I'll let him know. I've even got a small room off of the main dining area for just these types of clandestine meetings." He smiled as he took a step back. "I should get back to the kitchen, but I'll let you know in a few days if he's interested in hearing you out. You'll probably have to convince him before you'd get a chance to meet his mistress."

"Works for me. Thanks...I really appreciate it," I offered with a smile.

"So _that's_ the gay chef," Meryl suddenly exclaimed once he was safely out of earshot. "And he can cook? Starting to wonder if I couldn't have gotten a better deal."

"You're the one that didn't shop around. You can take that buyer's remorse and shove it right up your ass-you're stuck with me now, woman," I teased back.

Sounding completely serious, Zee added, "Let's not be hasty here, Joe. If Meryl really wants to go out and consider other options, we should support her choice to give up her turn tonight."

With a gasp of mock horror, Meryl then stuck her tongue out at Zee. "Siding with him? You're supposed to have my back so we can tackle him together!"

Taking a large sip of wine, Zee smiled back. "Maybe it's the wine, but I'm in the mood to bait my traps with honey."

"And what delicious honey it is," I added, hamming it up as much as possible.

"Fuck both of you," Meryl said with a frown before looking at Zee meaningfully. "But I guess the last girl I was with wasn't that bad…"

"That was me, and thanks for reminding me that I'm still a trollop regardless of gender," I remarked with a slight flush as I was forced to remember some of the _other_ things I'd done with that body.

After that I focused on eating to try and drown out the tide of confusing sexual impulses that didn't want to be silenced.

I'd need to get my head on a bit more straight if I was going to meet with Patrick's "friend". Thankfully, I was pretty sure that one or both of my two lovely companions would be thrilled to help me reclaim my sexual identity later that evening.

-

It only took two days to get a response from Patrick about meeting his associate Sebastian later that evening. It felt like it might take another entire day to convince Zee that I could make my way back to the Winter Court Bistro without an escort. Thankfully I managed it with promises to run and scream over several octaves if things got dicey.

Wearing the big boy pants now...

After a friendly greeting with Patrick, I was led into a smallish room off from the main dining area to wait until a well-dressed man that avoided any description beyond "beautiful" eventually entered the room.

Seeing Sebastian enter this somewhat secluded room, I was nearly shocked to my feet, extending a hand in an attempt at a warm greeting. "Uh...hey. I'm Joseph...I assume Patrick told you about me?"

I can't imagine that I was exuding confidence with as nervous as I was while the man regarded me.

"Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you Joseph." Sebastian answered with a formal but still pleasant smile. "Patrick tells me you want to meet with my mistress." Sebastian then gave a somewhat playful leer to Patrick with that last bit. "Honestly Patrick, you know I hate to talk about work when I come here."

Patrick snickered a bit before responding, "Well...our mouths were both a bit too busy to talk about anything the last time. Let me get the two of you something to drink and handle my customers before Aeval decides to get more hands-on than usual."

With that, Patrick ran off only to return with one of his bottles of exceptional homemade wine and a pair of glasses. "We can...catch up after you two are finished."

"Very well, just remember you owe me." Sebastian chuckled as he sipped some of the wine.

"I'm more than happy to repay any debt to you. I'm sure you'll think of something interesting, hmm?" Patrick offered with a wink.

It was all I could do to avert my eyes from the gratuitous display of flirtatious behavior and obvious undertones at a level that would have made Meryl blush.

Though trying his best to appear busy with his customers, I could see Patrick peeking in on us throughout our meeting. It seemed to visibly lessen once it became obvious that there was absolutely nothing about which he needed to be jealous.

I mean...there was that time that I was technically female. It was a bit off-putting that this man threw my thoughts into disarray, like a distant echo of the effect that Shinji's unholy presence had upon me.

What the hell was wrong with me? I had important business to handle and I'd damn well had my fill of carnal satisfaction many times over the last few days when I wasn't training with Zee or planning out financial moves with Meryl...and only twice while in the middle of said activities.

Taking another sip of the wine, Sebastian put on his business smile as he drew his attention to me. "So, just what kind of business do you have with my mistress?"

His voice pulling me from the the abyss of my confused thoughts, my eyes snapped back to awareness as I gathered my determination and cautiously began, "R-right. Didn't mean to get distracted there. Just...have some weird memories. Anyway, at the expense of sounding like some sort of dirty used wagon salesman, your mistress came up on the very short list of Alnor high society individuals that actually have the sort of pull to make what I'm planning a possibility."

Stopping to catch my breath a moment, I paused only a few seconds before continuing, "I have something very unconventional in mind that could make her a great deal of coin and I wanted to see if she might be interested. Do you want me to lay out the details with you first?"

"You sound quite confident." Sebastian said with a smirk. "I like that in a man." His expression then hardened a bit. "But I must be frank with you. My mistress has not been in a good mood as of late. The issue with her daughter not to mention the extra expenses we have been incurring as a result means that the plan you have had better be a good one. So by all means, please explain."

Trying to loosen a collar that already had plenty of room, I nodded, "I...don't know anything about the issues with her daughter, but I _do_ know finance. I wouldn't have even looked for an investor of Lady Victoria's stature if this wasn't a very enticing proposition. But enough with fluffing this pillow-you want details. This is what I have in mind."

With a small sip of wine to wet my palate, I continued with slowly growing confidence, "Let me start by saying that, at present, I've got some sort of...ritual or something stuck in my head. This only matters because it's very valuable to South Teremir Mercantile and the offer that I received on it was...substantial. Due to...personal reasons, I have a powerful need to hurt this organization as much as possible. So my plan basically involves _losing_ a vast sum of gold-to the benefit of your mistress and probably a good handful of others. The key is that this ritual can't be delivered without the packaging-me. So to collect it, South Teremir would effectively need to pay off any remaining debts I might have incurred before being able to get what they want…" I trailed off meaningfully, hoping that I'd given enough of an explanation for Sebastian to fill in the blanks.

"In other words you plan to get yourself in as much debt as possible so that the South Teremir Mercantile will have to bankrupt itself to get to you." Sebastian stroked his chin as he thought about it. "It is a fairly simple plan when you get down to it and it hinges entirely on how much they are willing to pay to gain possession of you. Are you certain you are worth that much to them?"

Chuckling slightly, I shrugged. "Worth? Who knows? I just know that the head of their council, Durand, has already tendered the offer. It's more than I or any of my companions would ever hope to see normally...a hundred million to be exact. Anyone would be a fool to turn something like that down, I guess...and I still intend to carry out the plan regardless, so make of that what you will. Your mistress could nearly guarantee its success and also make a killing at my and South Teremir's expense at the same time. I'd like to say that the plan is brilliant in its simplicity but…" I trailed off again, lost in the thoughts of what Durand was effectively holding over me.

"A hundred million? Well, that is impressive." Sebastian chuckled. "Who knows, may be if it is you you could pull it off. At the very least I believe you enough to get you an audience. After that it is between you and the mistress."

"Thank you...you won't regret this," I responded excitedly. "And if there's anything else I can ever do for you...uh...not physically, that is...then let me know." I said with only the one quick correction.

"Just do your best not to make the mistress angry." Sebastian chuckled. "We have enough of that to deal with as it is."

"Is there anything I should definitely _not_ bring up? I'm...not exactly the best at dealing with people," I conceded with a slightly worried look.

"Well…" Sebastian paused before answering, "...do not mention our daughter, that would be the big thing that sets her off. In fact, I would avoid talking about family at all." Sebastian added with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to hope she doesn't ask why I'm really doing this," I answered with a smile. "But I have my own...uh...family issues so I'll be delicate."

"I hope so, for both our sakes." Sebastian responded with an assured smile.

"So...what now? I know she's probably busy but time is a factor if this is going to work correctly," I offered cautiously. "At this point I just really don't want to offend her...or you."

"Well if you want to meet soon and you want her to be in a better mood.." Sebastian paused a moment to think. "How about a late night/early morning visit in say, two days?"

I nodded. "Perfect. Would a midnight appointment suit her? That way Zee won't be able to get on my ass about sleeping in the next day. I believe I know the location. Is it okay if I bring my...um...bodyguard? She can wait outside if you think it might cause any tension. I just worry about wandering the streets at night, no matter how nice that part of town is."

"Of course, bring any guests you like." Sebastian gives a reassuring nod. "We've had worse, I can assure you."

Having earned the chance to meet with the lady Victoria, I spent the rest of the tense meeting doing everything I could to stay mostly silent in the hopes of avoiding any sort of catastrophic faux pas.

With the meeting finally concluded some time later without incident, I stumbled home to wait for the night of my meeting.

-

Zee, Meryl and I arrived after a decidedly silent trip through the nicest part of the city.

Meryl seemed to be mentally marking aspects of each opulent home we passed for inclusion in what would most assuredly be her own future dream palace.

Zee left her eyes to wander as well, though in her case it looked to be for the sole purpose of identifying potential threats. Unless the Alnor guards decided to turn on us, that didn't seem likely as this area was even more well-patrolled than our otherwise nice corner of the city.

Arriving before an absolutely gorgeous home just before midnight, I knocked on the gate and waited patiently for a response.

Seeing an obvious maid appear after a few moments, I nervously spoke. "Yes...I believe I have an appointment with the lady of the house. My name is Joseph...she should be expecting me."

"Yes, the mistress is already waiting for you." The maid answered with a small bow. "If you will follow me." With nothing more than a few candles to light the way, the maid guided us through the dark corridors to a large parlor. After showing the way to a very expensive looking chair, the maid took a silent bow before leaving.

Damn...why did I have to have a weakness for undead?

The very obvious vampiric nature of the lady Victoria stood out right along with her very generous bosom, both appearing to be be accentuated by the sumptuously dark clothing she wore. A well-trimmed head of short blonde hair completed the beautiful contrast of the woman before me. I remained standing, despite my ass having already settled into the chair.

A plate of food and some glasses sat upon the small table between us. Sebastian was standing next to Victoria and quietly filled her glass with a red wine before walking over. "What would you like to drink?" He asked.

"Oh...just water would be fine. I don't want to impose," I answered nervously.

"Very well." Grabbing a pitcher of water, Sebastian filled the glass as Victoria looked me over.

I'm not entirely certain that even Hilde was in as bad a mood before being tossed through that wall as Victoria appeared to be as her gaze lanced through me like an icy spear of derision. She looked as if there was something else, or rather anything else she would have preferred to be doing at the moment. "Well, do not waste my time." The chill in her voice certainly did not dispel that feeling.

I tried to pretend that I wasn't imagining her sending that cold stare down at me while she abandoned any pretense of hospitality and stepped on me like a filthy rug. The thought, sadly, was not all that unpleasant.

Trying to look like something other than a deer caught square in the headlights of an approaching truck, I took a large sip of water and began, "I see, well then, I'm-"

"I know who you are." Victoria coldly interjected. "Anyone who has any stake in this city knows who you are. Only a fool would over look you just because you are human. I even acquired a picture detailing your public display. You do have a talent for causing a commotion."

The physical heat of my companions gazes burning into me from behind me kept me from saying any of the things that would have either ended our meeting or made it much more dangerously interesting.

Looking away with a quickly growing blush, I responded, "R-right...that. Not exactly what most would call fine art where I'm from…"

"Well, let us get right to the point." Victoria set down her glass and crossed her arms. "You wish for me to invest in your latest scheme, correct?"

Trying desperately to keep up with her pace and to speak without upsetting her, I nodded, "Yes. I think that it could be a very lucrative venture for you and quite the opposite for me...if Sebastian already explained what I had in mind."

"Explain it to me, I want to hear it in your own words." Victoria quickly answered.

"As you wish," I responded, gaining confidence at being finally placed back into something familiar. "I guess the best place to start is with what Durand and South Teremir are after. As Sebastian likely told you, I managed to pick up some sort of strange ritual by virtue of having seen it. I have no idea what it's for or what it might actually be worth, but…" I produced the written offer from Durand bearing the seal of the Teremir trade minister's office as well as of the lesser Alnor chamber of commerce, showing it to Victoria.

Victoria took the letter and gave it a once over. It was pretty obvious when she reached the offered amount as one of her eyebrows shot up. "Alright, you have my attention. Proceed."

I took a deep breath to steady myself and began my explanation. "Because I have this thing, I've been put through at least a dozen different flavors of hell. As it stands now...she has...um...some things that I need back and I have no place to even begin to negotiate with her beyond this ritual. So...for what she's done and in the hope of giving me some chance to get them-er...those _things_ back, I need to hurt her in the only way I really can-financially. If I sign this offer and have it delivered, she'll be obligated to pay that amount so that she can get this thing out of my head...but because it's not a simple process, she'll actually need me there physically to get it. So...my plan was to force myself into a massive debt that she'd be forced to cover before she could...take delivery on her prize."

I fidgeted in my chair as she replied, "So you have gone and acquired a part of a spell that you do not even know what it does but they are willing to pay frankly absurd amounts of money for it. And rather than just take this payoff you would rather put yourself in so much debt that even someone with this much money to offer would be hard pressed to get you out of it? Let us set aside whatever quarrel you may have with them, have you even considered what may happen if this plan of yours were to fail?"

I nodded grimly, "I'm not the sort of person to do things half-assed. Really...I'm just speculating on how deep their pockets might be. If they have enough to cover whatever debt I incur without breaking a sweat then I'd effectively be owned by them for the rest of my natural life...and probably beyond. And I'm not entirely certain that's even the worst case scenario. But…" I trailed off, my thoughts a jumble of worry on what I'd already lost and how much more I could lose if Durand continued her aggressive pursuit of this damn ritual. "I've already lost more than I can personally comprehend-I'm missing large parts of my memory that won't be gone forever and at least this way I can make sure that _I'm_ the only person risking everything."

"Spare me your sob story." Victoria coldly replied. "You are asking for an investment, an investment of no small amount of gold. You do not even know what exactly it is you have, what if they decide they won't pay? Just what am I going to do with you in that event?"

Despite Victoria's cold demeanor, I smiled as I delivered what I hoped would be the primary selling points of my plan. "Well, I suppose that would be up to you, however...I'm not here to beg you for help; I'm here to make you an attractive offer. What I would do is actually borrow gold from you-which, like all moneylending transactions, is given greater importance in the event of debt collection. So since you know that I'm good for at _least_ what South Teremir is offering, you have nearly no risk involved for the first part of this venture. However…" I added as my smile grew a bit more devious, "...since my plan is to send part of the market catapulting into a specific direction, you'd be very uniquely positioned to take full advantage of that fact-seeing potentially vast returns on simply investing in the markets I'm going to target.

Now...I suppose I can't guarantee that they'd pay, but that's the potential beauty of letting as many people as possible know what they're offering for this ritual. Whoever is left holding the greatest amount of my personal debt could potentially force a new deal with them. They can't collect the ritual at all unless they actually have me. But that's all in the unlikely scenario that they won't simply pay off or take ownership of all of that debt to get their hands on me."

"I see." Slowly a smirk crossed her face as she gave a quick scoff. "Well you have already proven your capability to flip the market, so there is merit to your plan. And I do suppose that in the worst case scenario I could just turn around and sell you to them, the potential losses I face are low relatively speaking. And the gains of having a trading rival potentially weakened could make any one time investment pale in comparison. Yes, it all looks very promising from my position but there is one other matter to consider. You yourself don't seem to come out of this in a better position. No matter how you look at it you are selling yourself to somebody. Even if they buy up all of your debt like you plan they still have what they took from you, and I doubt they will be in any better mood to give it back. You said you want to be the only one risking everything and indeed you are risking everything. I want to know why, what did they take from you?"

However true this was, it may well have been the wrong answer if what Sebastian told me was correct. Leaning back in my seat a bit, I slowly closed and then reopened my eyes, bringing everything to account in my head before answering. "It almost seems like you're...concerned. Is it so strange for a whore to sell himself? No matter what else I do or where I go...I don't think that part of me will change. I'm...at peace with it now anyway. As for what they took-that I know of-is two wives...the ones from the painting, my twin daughters, and another that is yet unborn. The reality is that they have them now and, short of hiring a literal private army that I'd never be able to afford, there's nothing I can really do to get them back. If my plan works and I can bring them to their knees...I should have allies that can then attack their guild financially-possibly buy it out completely-to give me a chance at securing their return."

I visibly hesitated at the last part before continuing, "If it seems strange that I'm not completely out of my mind about it...it's only because that part of my memory has been magically buried. But Wormtongue said it best when she told me that the heart can't forget those feelings...even if my head doesn't understand why they are there in the first place."

Victoria began to laugh, pressing her palm to her head and looking up as her laugh burst out. "Yes, of course it would be something like that." Slowly calming herself she gave a confident smirk. "I like your way of thinking, boy. Such an unconventional method of getting what you want is really something I can relate to. Honestly I would have no intention of partnering with a suicidal fool who could not get over what he lost and take whatever gains he could. Emotions and money do not get along but family… family is a different matter." Taking another drink of her wine she gave a sigh. "There really is no reason to be had when it comes to what one will do for family, it is quite funny in a way."

In a short fit of anger she clenched her fist. "Honestly, what am I going to do with such a foolish child." She then quickly recomposed herself. "I cannot say what it is but there is something about you that is rather appealing for a mutt. But enough chatter, there is business to be had." With a snap of her fingers she looked back at Sebastian. "Fetch me the financial records, I am going to need to reroute some funds."

Watching as Sebastian took his leave to get what Victoria requested, I nodded as if in answer to Victoria's rhetorically phrased question. "I'm more often than not the burden on my own family...but sometimes the circumstances force us to make potentially rash-seeming decisions, I suppose."

Not a moment later, Sebastian came running back with a number of papers in his hand. Pausing just before Victoria, he cleared his throat. "Mistress, there's… there's been some news." Sebastian certainly seemed hesitant to inform Victoria.

"Can it wait?" Victoria asked.

"I am afraid to say that it involves the young miss." Sebastian diligently stated.

Giving a sigh, Victoria held out her hand. Sebastian gingerly handed over the letters and then noticeably took a few steps back. Victoria opened the letters and read through them, each one quicker than the last steadily laughing a little louder as she did until she finally lowered the last letter. "Potentially rash decisions. Is that how you put it?" Going silent for a moment it seemed that her vampiric pride could hold back her anger no longer. "You have not even seen a rash decision yet! For lords fucking sake it's not even your own wedding you foolish brat!" Her vampiric eyes glowing as she glares back at me, she continued, "I will assist you in this matter boy, you will do everything in your power to see your plan succeed and in payment of their debt I will be taking some of their mercenary forces. My daughter has gone far enough!"

Wanting to hide under the table but also not about to hang myself with the wrong answer here, I almost immediately replied, "Yes, of course. Whatever you want. I'll...do everything I can on my end as well."

This woman knew how to move when she saw something she wanted done. We hammered out the specifics of my plan within a few short hours before I was finally escorted back out to the cool night air of the sleeping Alnor.

I pocketed that tidbit of information Victoria had let slip about her daughter and someone else's wedding to use as a potential future inroad for more business with the savvy vampire. That was all assuming I didn't end up too deep in the hole and forced to work as a salt miner or gong farmer between unwanted sexual encounters.

It would be three weeks before everything concluded. The only thing that had now changed was that I might need to feel sorry for at least one additional person if this worked. If Victoria planned to personally take control of South Teremir's mercenary forces...well, _someone_ was going to have a bad day.

As the only remaining member of the Nukita Consortium, I had control of Risa's (and my) more than modest holdings. Coin was far more important than the house and the several brothels we owned, so those were first "sold" to Meryl.

Since my task was going to be to put myself into unbelievable debt to as many parties as possible, I didn't want anyone to have a claim to any of our actual assets. Since Meryl and I weren't legally attached, they wouldn't be able to go after her assets to cover my debt.

"So I get the general idea, Joe...but how is this actually supposed to work," Zee asked in the relieved silence after four hours of infuriating encounters with at least three bureaucratic functionaries we'd seen to sign everything of true value over to Meryl.

Looking up from my barely legible scrawlings of a signature, I turned to Zee and took my best shot at trying to explain exactly how this was supposed to work.

"I'll basically be dealing in 'futures'-a bet on where a given market is going to be at some point in the future. Keeping things simple, I'm going to make agreements to sell these items at prices that are much lower than they are today. When the due date comes up to deliver those items, assuming I don't have them on hand-and I won't-I'd need to purchase those items and sell them all at a loss. Realistically, I'd just be left with a bunch of contracts that represent a massive outright loss rather than a being forced to go through the act of actually buying and selling all that junk.

From what I've heard, the first time I did this...it really only worked because I got lucky. There were other factors involved, but it could have very easily gone the wrong way. The second time, I pulled something that is very illegal where I came from to force the prices to go in the direction I needed them to go. Luckily they don't have laws about insider trading here...yet at least."

I could tell I was losing her, less on comprehension and more on interest. "Anyway, this time I'm going to use another dirty trick to ensure that I lose...and lose _big_. Since I've been right on two huge market moves, it'd be risky for anyone to bet that I was making the wrong call. For all they know I've got some sort of human black magic that commands the market to move as I desire."

She scratched behind one of her finned ears. "So if the market could go either direction, who's to say that it won't go in your favor? And if it did...how is that a bad thing?"

I smiled, getting excited as I continued my explanation. "Well, the thing about futures is that prices can move for logical reasons like supply issues or even the weather for things like crops...or it can move based entirely on emotions and speculation. In this case, once the 'rumor' of how much I'm worth to Durand gets out, that gives everyone a massive incentive to bet against me. Since the item Durand wants can't just be handed over or sold normally, Durand will have to buy out all of the contracts to even have a chance to take possession of the ritual and _then_ pony up that hundred million she promised. I'll be setting up it so she'll hopefully have to pay five or ten times that amount to even have the _chance_ to cough up the rest of it to buy that ritual."

Nearly jumping up and down as I finished my explanation, I made animated gestures with my arms as I added, "I don't care how deep her pockets are...I find it hard to believe that even Amarante herself could gather that much gold if she mortgaged the entire fucking city of Alnor!"

"So how could this go wrong?" Zee asked unimpressed, throwing a wet blanket quite effectively onto my enthusiasm.

I sighed. "Well...even if that amount is far beyond what she'd be able to manage, she should be able to take out loans for the rest. I mean...her credit has to be flawless, right? But in an absolute doomsday scenario, if someone with deeper pockets than Victoria got involved or if I somehow ended up with a debt so huge that even South Teremir Mercantile couldn't foot the bill...or if Durand somehow found out my plan and bet _with_ me. But no...this plan kicks the hell out of logical reasoning because, in theory, nobody should ever plan to lose."

"I'll start looking for a way to smuggle you out of the city and make sure my weapons are sharp just in case you're wrong. Seeing one 'guaranteed' victory go south was enough for me," Zee said before giving me a weak smile. "Not that I don't trust you. Just being cautious is all."

"Yeah…" I mumbled to myself as I watched Zee leave the room, suddenly worried that I might be underestimating a being that had seen more millenia pass than I'd seen decades.

I was tired of being on the losing end of every single venture. My ongoing daily practice with Zee had continued to painfully highlight that fact. Even if I really did have any of the natural talent she claimed, it amounted to nothing in the face of her hundreds of years of experience and supernaturally tuned physique.

With several years spent learning accounting and finance, more than ten years of experience dealing with a digital stock exchange, and twice that as a gamer imagining how I'd break a market exactly like this one if I ever found myself in another world...how could I believe that I had a chance to fail?

Finance was something that I was _good_ at. I'd spent more than half my life enjoying nearly every facet of it...and after all of the shit I'd been through, I felt that had to count for something.

I had to hope-no… _believe_ that I was more talented and had more experience...at least in dealing with the sort of ludicrous market conditions I intended to whip up.

-

Things picked up speed very quickly the moment we set my plan into action.

I picked three markets that wouldn't affect the common folk overmuch if their prices began to shift wildly: mermaid blood, dwarven forged weapons, and alraune nectar.

With the markets chosen, the next step was to send a message to Durand telling her that I would agree to her offer to purchase the ritual at the stated price for a date of delivery that would be about three weeks from when it was sent. That would guarantee enough time to set the markets into a frenzy but not enough time to give Durand an easy way out of emptying her coffers all at once.

For my part, all I had to do was put in one round of large orders initially and then a second round about a week later to make it appear as though I was less certain of my initial investment.

With that out of the way and the rumor mill spinning wildly I just needed to lay low until the event finished. If it seemed like I was hiding, it just made it seem that much more likely that Nukita had made the wrong choice for once.

What I hadn't counted on was that rumors spread of my meeting with Victoria. Regardless of how it happened, I had to laugh at the implications. To anyone looking, it appeared as though I had likely offended her greatly in our meeting and had managed to get myself into a miniature trade war with the ancient vampire.

With her respectable position and long history of financial success, it was clear to most investors that backing her over a well known whore, regardless of his celebrity (more like notoriety), was the right choice. I couldn't have hoped for a better outcome as the tide of market sentiment turned violently against me.

After the first week, I finally got the excited report back from Meryl that the markets were doing even better than I had predicted with no sign of reversing course. With that piece of worry off of my mind, I just needed to wait for the scheduled date of my planned failure.

-

"Joe!" Meryl's sharp declaration came, shredding into my nervous reverie as I looked over the purchase orders for close to the hundredth time that day. "What the hell are you still doing up?!"

Convinced that the bitter concoction I'd been drinking was as close as I'd get to coffee in this world, I took a painful sip and rubbed my brow. "This is nothing...I used to stay up for 30 hours at a stretch or more just watching currency markets," I answered in a failed attempt to dispel Meryl's growing frown. "I'm just afraid I might have missed something. Are you sure these numbers are correct?"

Expecting a mild scolding, I was taken by surprise when Meryl dragged me from the chair to my feet. "They're the same as they were twelve hours ago when the market closed...and exactly the same as they were the last four times you asked me. You're going to sleep now or I'm going to put you to sleep, you selfish bastard!"

About to grumpily shout back, I followed Meryl's gaze to where it fell upon Zee, asleep in a chair nearby. My bodyguard had promised she'd keep me company until even she'd succumbed to exhaustion several hours earlier.

"I know you're worried," Meryl began softly. "But you're damaging the most important part of this plan: you."

She hadn't needed to say it at that point. Just seeing Zee uncomfortably sleeping nearby to watch over me was enough to remind me that there wasn't anything I'd have been able to do even if I was dealing with a digital marketplace.

I nodded silently and gently nudged Zee. "Hey, let's go to bed," I offered apologetically.

Starting awake with more than mild surprise that she'd fallen asleep, Zee nodded and accepted my offered shoulder as support as we headed upstairs.

"I'll kick you awake if anyone tries to break in, love," Meryl teased, kissing my cheek as she all but threw Zee and I onto the bed.

With Zee's warm body pressed against mine, I'm pretty sure I was asleep before my head had even fully hit the pillow.

-

I didn't often remember my dreams, but that night certainly upset the trend. Among the many other strange and disjointed dreams I had that night, one stood out far more than I wanted to admit. Like most of the interesting dreams I'd ever remembered, this one felt so real that it was hard to even accept that it was a dream when I awoke the next morning.

In the dream, I heard a gentle knock on the window. From outside, a young succubus girl smiled at me, the most telling thing about her was her unevenly colored dark hair that was shot through with brilliant white streaks.

"It's dangerous to go alone," she began with a sly grin. "Take this," she added as she turned and gently smacked her own ass to draw attention to what she was offering.

"But...huh?" I said, trying to shake the cobwebs out of my head.

Now whispering as I felt the light kiss of eromantic magic moving over me like a gentle breeze, she looked back at me over her shoulder, "You don't want to ravage a poor virgin succubus? We'll have cake if you do. This might be your only chance…"

It felt more like a lucid dream at that point and I was aware enough to know that I _probably_ couldn't be held responsible for anything I did in a dream. I'd certainly made dumber decisions and I was in control enough to make the choice, even if I might not have fully understood the choice I was making.

That she knew enough to entice me with an old-school video game reference was enough to earn what couldn't have been more than forty seconds of anxious sexual activity on my part. If I'd been awake, I'm sure I'd have been hanging my head in shame at that performance...assuming that the cake was indeed a lie.

The only upswing was that I woke up before she had the chance to berate me for what was probably the most subpar performance I'd had since before I came to this world. Well...that and that it was all a dream anyway.

When I awoke to the more than pleasant sight of Zee's swaying tail as she straddled me to form the nine of our current position as she made exploratory oral advances upon my eager morning firmness, I wasn't sure exactly what to do. At least that probably explained the vivid dream.

Looking back over her shoulder at me in slight embarrassment as I stirred, Zee grinned sheepishly, "I was just looking."

"With your tongue?" I replied with a smile and a yawn.

Looking even more embarrassed, she frowned back at me, "It's time for our training anyway, let's-"

I managed to quiet her with a quick movement of my hand toward the fertile valley between her powerful thighs, "Or we could negotiate an alternative form of activity. What do you say, beautiful?"

Amused beyond measure that she tried to answer while I continued to gently tease her.

"Ah…" she softly gasped as her eyes showed a moment of indecision. "You _were_ up pretty late...but you'd better not make a habit out of...hah...this. A trained body is the foundation of a ...hnng...okay that's it!"

Any hesitation in her actions vanished as she threw herself into the task she'd started while I was asleep, repositioning herself to allow for both of us to more easily get a pre-breakfast snack. It was no less exhausting than our normal morning routine but losing myself fully with Zee was certainly better than losing consciousness and repeatedly picking myself up off the ground for several hours.

With our activities concluded a few hours later, Meryl took the opportunity to arrive with her nobly horrible attempt at breakfast. Her cheeks flushed and ears flat against her head in embarrassment as she handed it to me, she remarked, "Cooking is bullshit. You can just throw that out if you want and we'll go get something in the city. It's the best I could do."

The plate she handed me likely wasn't her first attempt and I'd seen enough anime to know the right answer in this situation. "No, I'll definitely at least taste it since you went out of your way to make it," I replied as I proceeded to force everything down, guaranteeing that the taste of char would be with me for at least the rest of the day.

"Dumbass," she said as she angrily took the plate from me, unable to hide her happily swishing tail as she walked away. "I'll have to get Risa to teach me how to cook once we get her back."

"We...uh...all have skills we can improve," I offered in an attempt to avoid commenting on the absolute heaven that had been Risa's cooking.

"Well aren't you a clever bastard today," Meryl remarked in response, before dashing in for a quick kiss. "And a sweet one. Come on, I want to make sure the masons are done fixing my sister's house and that they didn't steal anything. Plus, if I don't find something to distract you, you'll be up to your balls in market reports all day again."

I nodded my assent and then headed down the street with my companions. I'd done everything I could do with the market and I didn't see anything changing in the last two days before all the contracts were due. As much as I wanted to worry about it, I was much more interested in spending time with Meryl and Zee...especially given how hectic things were going to get in a few days.

It was hard to even recognize the house that had been so badly damaged just a few weeks earlier. Given the damage the outer wall and the gate had suffered, I expected a bad patch job and was speechless to see that it looked to have been completely repaired.

"How in the…? Geez, those ladies do some damn fine work," I commented at seeing the result of the repairs.

"Yeah, well...I couldn't exactly cheap out on fixing the place up. I grew up here too, you know." Despite her tone, Meryl seemed quite happy to see the restoration as we entered. "You'd never know that a half-crazed lizard threw someone through that wall."

Zee looked more saddened than anything in her response. "I'm sorry, both of you. Things have been going more...red than normal since I drank whatever cursed concoction Keres fed me, but the worse I'm hurt in that state, the less I actually see. There just wasn't any other way I was going to be able to bring down Ixi with the wounds I'd already taken."

"Hey, at least you snapped out of it. And I know you wouldn't have hurt me," I said in an attempt to be comforting.

My attempt to soften whatever Zee was feeling nearly had the opposite effect and her features darkened. "I wish I was as sure about that as you seem to be. I'm supposed to be your bodyguard…"

"By all means, keep doing that. But I hope you know you're more than that now, Zee." I smiled back at her. "I'm going to go check the basement. You coming?"

Zee shook her head, still in thought. "Give me a shout if you need anything, I'm just going to sit in the study while Meryl pokes around upstairs."

Her tone made it clear she wanted to have herself a good think. I needed the opposite to distract me from worrying about the market for the last two remaining days, imagining some sort of financial apocalypse wrought at my hands and Victoria out for my blood...and not in any way I imagined was likely to be pleasant.

Aside from a passably stocked wine rack, the only thing of note in the basement was a pair of heavy metal doors.

"Luckily I'm not a cat," I mumbled to myself as I leaned into the first one, finding it unlocked.

I found myself in a bedroom that looked to have been abandoned for quite some time. I found little of interest beyond an empty weapon rack on the wall, looking to be well suited to a spear and a hatchet. Perhaps this had been Ixi's room once upon a time, but it looked to have been picked clean and I certainly wasn't going to find any answers now.

Moving to the other door, I saw an elaborately carved macabre scene engraved upon the heavy metal. In the design I saw strangely familiar necromantic symbols emanating out to several small runic points that each looked like an archaic word for "home". At the center was a small skeletal figure that appeared to be shedding tears as it looked away from another hand that reached down from the top of the design.

As I ran my fingers over the intricate pattern, the door suddenly grew hot under my touch and then swung inward without any further warning. Beyond the door was a space that must have been carved into the bedrock beneath the house, appearing more like a cave than an actual room.

Within the room was what must have been a magical or alchemical lab at some point in the recent past. It looked to have been stripped almost completely bare. Here and there were the ashes from destroyed parchment, a strange runic circle on the ground drawn around a pile of desiccated bones, and a small stone table with nothing remaining upon it but unidentifiable stains, a broken alembic, and a small wooden box.

I stepped cautiously across the room toward the table and the small box, the only undamaged item of interest.

Looking closer, I saw that the small box was actually a music box that contained only a delicately tied lock of silvery hair. There didn't appear to be any sort of winding mechanism or any obvious way to start the gears within. As I stared at the strange alignment of the gears, I could make out the impossibly elaborate runic tracings that marked this item as some sort of artifact.

I couldn't say for sure how long I was lost in looking at the intricate runes. But it felt like hours or even days.

There was no way I'd be able to read magical runes...or so I thought. As I was drawn further and further into the ever expanding intricacies and inhuman level of detail, it was though I could "read" the entire design. I couldn't explain how, but this wasn't just a simple design. It was like a living depiction of every thought, desire, and impulse that would exist within a person. The music box may as well have been a person in its impossible complexity.

Each tiny twist and swirl of the runic script seemed to be telling me a story. The story, however beautiful, was sad beyond words not in what it said but in what it didn't say. I saw pain beyond reason, hopes broken like flotsam upon a hateful shore, and sorrow...so much sorrow.

I started to lose the image in my mind as the runes became more and more cloudy, the reason making itself finally manifest as my tears fell upon the small music box.

The last impression I'd gotten from the design had been...me.

"Joe! We've got a serious problem!" I heard Meryl shout as she suddenly dashed into the room. "I don't know what happened but the alraune nectar market just completely flipped in the wrong direction. It's fucking pandemonium, we need to get to the market _now_."

I was still in a daze as the gravity of what Meryl had just said hadn't fully registered enough to wash away the dark vortex of emotion that had just barely released its grip upon me.

Unable to react until my mind answered the unspoken dilemma before me, I closed my eyes as the knowledge inexplicably leapt to the front of my mind. I spoke aloud, "Wait...this has to be Delilah's-"

"Phylactery, Joe. One that I have outgrown," the unmistakable voice of Delilah whispered from behind me. At the same time, the runes inside the music box began to glow with soft violet light as the mechanism started playing in melancholic accompaniment to the fear that crept up my spine like the chill of the grave.


	34. Chapter 34 - Sung From Lost Days

Chapter 34 - Sung From Lost Days

Before I or Meryl could react, I was held fast to the floor by disembodied grasping hands. At the same time, similar looking arms pulled Meryl beyond the crude entrance to this room.

Running her fingers over the music box as it continued to play its bittersweet melody, Delilah then closed her eyes as she slowly and purposefully shut the lid. As the last echoes of the music faded, I caught the sound of barely audible whispers as Delilah bound the music box with a thin chain of blackened iron.

"This flawed creation has been the cause of more pain than I could have ever imagined." She then set her violet eyes upon me. "And still...nothing in this world or any other could hurt me as much as your eyes in this moment, Joe."

I felt a shiver of painful remorse run over me. That story I had seen in Delilah's abandoned phylactery had made the reality of my past impossible to ignore. With nothing else but these feelings...the betrayal I felt poured across this lich-this person I didn't know-in the hateful glare I wore.

I shook my head angrily. "Don't put this on me. If you cared about me, you'd tell me why the fuck you're doing all of this for Durand. Shinji is dead because of you. Do you have any idea how upset you made your own daughter?"

Her brow furrowed for the barest of instants. She opened her mouth to speak several times without words before finally speaking again, "So you are saying that if _you_ truly loved someone, you would never keep things from them? Even if those things could hurt that person to know?"

Was she trying to say that she had a noble cause behind all of this? All I could feel as she spoke was the pain of betrayal. My insides hurt to imagine that everything Delilah had been doing was because she cared about me.

Balling my hands into fists, I answered with absolute certainty. "Yes! Love is about trust and you don't keep things from someone you trust. If I truly loved someone, I'd never keep things from them."

Walking past me, she didn't speak until her back was to me, replying with only a single word. "Understood."

Passing beyond the door away as she walked toward Meryl, away from me. Delilah raised her arm as a powerful violet aura spread across the walls, a portcullis of bone appearing to block passage a moment later.

With the weight of my failed plan crumbling around me and Meryl well beyond my reach, I struggled with all of my strength to try and get free from the corpse-like hands that held me pinned to the floor.

"Delilah! Don't do this!" I shouted, my voice sounding muted even to my own ears.

Every time I managed to get myself free of one of the hands, two more would latch on with increasing intensity. To my surprise, it wasn't nearly as painful as it was damnably frustrating.

"Do not worry, Joseph. I have but two tasks remaining-one debt to be paid and one treasure to be protected."

Just beyond my clear view, I saw Meryl struggling to get free from her own confinement as Delilah stepped closer. Now struggling hard enough to tear the skin of my legs, I desperately tried to crawl my way to the barred entryway.

At any moment I expected a horrifying scene to play out just beyond my reach. One more tragedy gripping me as surely as these magical limbs as it dragged one more love away from me...and despite every single fiber of my being screaming out in wild rage, being helpless but to watch it happen.

What I saw instead should have convinced me to stop my fruitless struggling and think about what I was missing. There had to be a reason for all of this...but the feeling of betrayal wouldn't let me see anything beyond the blind fury of that moment.

Delilah looked back at me through the bonework lattice, no hint of any emotion marring the serene perfection of her beauty. Her eyes seemed to be searching me for something...but if they found it, I'll never know.

In that interminable moment, Delilah then turned and began whispering to Meryl. As surely as if they had been poison, those words stole Meryl's strength. Meryl ceased her struggle a few seconds later, tears in her eyes as the conjured hands released her.

"Meryl?!" I shouted as I renewed my struggle with even greater fervor.

The often infuriating vixen that I'd come to love simply nodded once and took a step toward me. Her voice was pained but certain as she forced a smile. "Damn it Joe...look at your legs."

"What's going on? What did she say to you?" I asked, still frantic.

Feeling like she was moving away from me even while standing still, Meryl reached through the blocked entryway to lay her hand upon mine. She took a deep breath to steel herself for whatever she planned to say next.

Wiping her face with her sleeve, Meryl stared back at me with those beautiful green eyes before showing me a genuine smile, her fluffy tail moving back and forth behind her. "Joe, we really are a lot alike. You think maybe we're both cursed? It hurts to be able to reach out and touch what I want...and know that I'll never be able to keep it. Life really is a bitch, isn't it?"

I shook my head fiercely as I pleaded, "Whatever she told you...whatever the problem is, we can fix it together. I can't...I can't do this again, Meryl. I'm not strong enough on my own so I need you to-"

Tightening her grip on my hand, Meryl continued, "Even if it was just for a day, a minute, or even a second...I'd do it all again to spent that moment with you. I'll always love you, okay?" She then looked back at Delilah before turning again to me. "If you make me a promise right now that no matter what you have to go through that you'll fight as hard as you possibly can to stay alive...I'll do everything I can to fight this with you."

"I promise!" I quickly offered, shaking my way free of the necromantic hands that bound me and crawling up to the bone fence between us.

She pulled me against the bars and kissed me deeply, her shuddering breath thick with the sadness that gripped her as her body tried to reject the decision upon which her mind had settled.

Sniffling as she released me to reluctantly get to her feet. "I'm ready."

I stood and hurled myself against the unyielding bone as hard as I could manage, the only bones nearly snapping at the attempt being my own as I screamed out. "Meryl?! I thought you said-"

I saw the witch Mira step through a portal next to Meryl as my fox-tailed companion threw one last beautiful smirk at me over her shoulder. "I wasn't lying, Joe...even if I _am_ being a bitch. There just...isn't anything I _can_ do. But we made a deal so you'd better keep your promise. I don't know what will really happen...but when I said always...I meant it."

Before my eyes, I saw a prison of crystal flash into existence around Meryl. Despite her attempt to make herself look like the playful scheming vixen I'd come to love, her face was frozen in the brightest peaceful smile I'd ever seen grace those lips.

With each beat of my heart sounding in my head as shattering glass, I watched Meryl vanish into one of those black portals with Mira, the witch turning back to Delilah with a frown. "The salamander is coming...make this quick."

As if in response to Mira's remark, I felt the entire foundation of the house tremble as I heard a scream of supreme exertion from Zee, the sound of her approach punctuated with a thunderous crack every couple seconds.

Delilah turned to me with a slightly disturbed look. "If you accompany me now, Azalea will not have to be involved."

Pounding upon the bones that barred my passage, I spat back at the small undead, "What did you tell Meryl?! How can I even trust you, you hateful fucking corpse?!"

Turning away from me, Delilah quietly answered, "I told Meryl the truth and she made her decision." She hesitated long enough for several more earth-shaking impacts to resonate throughout my makeshift prison before adding, "I...would not expect you to trust me at this moment, Joe. Only to trust that I will do what needs to be done to ensure that my plans will be executed fully."

The lich was impossible to read, the task made even more impossible with her back to me...not that her expression was likely to have provided any more hints. The unfamiliar cadence of her voice told me that some emotion was involved, but I was at a complete loss to imagine which emotion.

Not that I could have seen beyond the feeling of creeping doom that consumed me. This was about a lot more than me or a ritual. I didn't care about the reasons; I just wanted it to stop.

She didn't want to kill me-she couldn't. I was just being brought to Durand...but that didn't explain Meryl, Karisa, or the children. Meryl wasn't the type to just roll over without a fight...so whatever Delilah had told her had been enough to buy her compliance in this farce. The thought of Zee also ending up in a similar state, however, was enough to convince me to make the unthinkable choice to go with Delilah.

I took a step back and angrily kicked the wall of bone. "If you're lying to me...I will _hurt_ you. I don't care if it takes the rest of my life-but I will find a way."

With a wave of her hand, Delilah banished the thick bones back into the dust from whence they'd come. "I have no doubts that you would succeed. Let us make haste."

"Joe!" I heard Zee scream as she broke through the final one of the dozen or so bony walls that had been thrown up to slow her down. She didn't even break her stride as she exploded into the basement and barrelled toward us.

Pushing me toward the portal, Delilah calmly spoke, "I apologize, Azalea. It would be too dangerous for you to follow us."

"There's nowhere you can hide him from me! Joe, I _will_ find you!" Zee howled as she quickened her relentless approach.

As I tumbled into magical blackness, I heard Zee roar as her pounding footsteps stopped and she leapt into the air toward us. Her claws were barely a hair's breadth from grabbing me when the portal closed, sealing my other love back in Alnor as I landed on an unfamiliar floor.

-

Everything about this situation was vague, confusing, or outright hurtful. Despite not seeing a torture chamber around me, I was no less distraught over the current situation.

I was also extremely disturbed to see some sort of large ritual circle carved into the floor. Around the edges of the circle were Risa, Meryl, Medea, and the twins all frozen in crystal.

Blushing when I looked in her direction, Mira quickly removed her spectacles and tossed them somewhere into her bottomless hat. She then smiled in my direction as she spoke, "I thought you'd never get here. Remind me later; I've got a present for you."

Feeling deeply insulted by her friendly tone in this situation, I coldly shot back, "Go fuck yourself."

Looking momentarily offended, she then took on a wicked smile. "Myself? I'm sure I can do better than that. Don't you?"

"Unless you're trying to piss me off enough to make sure I hold a grudge until the end of time, today is _not_ the fucking day," I tossed out in dismissive anger.

Mira appeared confused by my tone...the one reaction I was not at all equipped to handle. "Did...Delilah even tell you about the-"

Delilah quickly cut in, "Be silent and finish the preparations or I will terminate our arrangement."

The witch shook her head. "I highly doubt that...but it serves my purposes either way." She turned back to me and added, "So that's how it is, I guess. We'll get to that chat about marriage and children later...I get the feeling we'll have a chance to do that _very_ soon."

Delilah didn't let me linger in the ritual chamber any longer as she led me from the room before the witch could say anything else.

Distracting me slightly from my confused mental flailing was the castle in which I'd found myself. All around me was a level of extravagant opulence that I could scarcely imagine until having seen it.

Like the inside of a sumptuous bordello, the rooms were invitingly dark and warm. Gold-trimmed furniture, exotic furs, and rare pieces of art made each one of the massive rooms through which I passed feel as comfortable as if was in my own home. The pleasing scent of various types of incense and the soft sounds of distant music made the whole place seem unreal in its perfection.

Before I could fully process that I had been brought into a massive study, I heard a voice call out to me. Assured and powerful with a faint rasp that left a lingering promise upon every word, this was a voice that simply could not be ignored.

"Joseph Panna, I presume? I hadn't expected you for a least another week. My advisors were certain you'd run rather than face your debts," the woman began as my eyes were slowly drawn to her. "Ah, I see. It seems more than one debt is to be rendered in full. Your foresight is impressive as always, Delilah, is this to be your attempt to settle our personal account?"

Delilah answered in an uncharacteristic defiance, "One might argue that you would have lost any chance at retrieving this ritual if you had hesitated in opening the magical conduit as I requested. He needed to be retrieved from Kaori and it would have been nearly impossible without a substantial infusion of your energy through that conduit."

As my eyes finally fell upon Durand, it took me a few moments for my mind to even process her existence. I had seen some impossibly beautiful women on the island but this woman was truly painful to behold. Everything in her appearance seemed formed from perfection itself. It was difficult to call her beautiful for reasons beyond the word "beauty" simply not being up to the task.

After nearly a minute, I realized my mistake. Durand was not of a living beauty like the sunset or the glittering waves of a gentle sea...she was more like the beauteous grace of a complex mathematical equation or the precision of a masterwork timepiece. The proportions, like everything else, seemed more engineered or sculpted for perfection than to have naturally occurred that way.

Durand spoke again, the movements of her body so far from human in their exactness as to be as off-putting as they were impossible to ignore. "As I check my ledgers, I see that we have lost a great deal of profit from prior arrangements in Kaori of late. There are many that would argue that your actions were the catalyst that sparked their inevitable civil war."

"That was not my intention," Delilah countered, sounding somewhat shaken.

"If I thought it was, we would be having a far different conversation," Durand replied as she got up from her chair and moved toward me, each step full of more overtly sublime seduction than anything I'd ever seen with my own eyes. "He is your husband. Will you offer him to make up the difference?"

At that, Delilah's eyes almost entirely imperceptibly shifted in brightness for just a moment. If Durand hadn't been staring directly at me in her approach, she likely would have seen it as well. It didn't appear that she had, however.

"One evening."

This fucking lich was selling me as a whore to settle her own debts!

Durand came within a meter of me, showing no sign of stopping her confident advance. "And you have no objections to the potential consequences? You are aware that no man has ever willingly left my harem after feeling my touch."

Delilah turned away, her hand brushing mine briefly enough to suggest it had been accidental as she began walking from the room. "However unlikely that outcome, I will return for him once you are finished."

As the lich calmly stepped from the room, I felt Durand's finger touch me as my chin was pulled around to bring me face to face with this ancient undead. "You wife has no concept of the future for which you have just been volunteered."

Holding on to my restraint with the potent cocktail of the hate, rage, and sadness that had been steadily building within me, I continued to meet the disturbingly familiar violet gaze of Durand as I answered, "You owe a lot of people a lot of gold before all of that."

Her gaze not flinching or moving away, she spoke to another woman that had been standing almost invisibly silent within the room. "Give me the totals."

Bowing deeply, the maid-dressed elf began to give her account. "Not including his individual contract or any of the other daily losses or gains, we booked a loss on dwarven steel contracts of approximately one hundred eighty million, the loss on mermaid blood contracts was just over two hundred million, and we had an outright profit of just under seventy million on alraune nectar. If we make arrangements, we could-"

"Pay them now," Durand said simply.

The elf nodded and continued, "One of the requests was for more than gold. A...Lady Victoria is looking to purchase a substantial contingent of our mercenary forces for a potentially long-term project. This could potentially-"

"Send everything she's requested and an additional ten percent with our thanks for her business and a genuine hope for further dealings in the future." Durand then said as an afterthought, her eyes never leaving me, "Let the succubus enter."

Looking over to the visitor, I saw the succubus that had given me underground medical treatment after my vicious beating from Hildegard. Knowing where this was about to go, I felt a rising swell of desire to stab the demon...and not in the friendly way.

"Like we agreed, yeah? What you offered him?" the succubus asked nervously.

Durand answered back curtly. "Correct. I assume that a Teremir marque of account is sufficient? Pay the woman."

The succubus was handed a letter of credit which she gingerly took, her face lighting up in joy as she scanned the parchment. She looked almost giddy as she turned to leave.

"A moment," Durand suddenly said, her eyes finally looking away from me to focus on the succubus that had become my most recent betrayal. "You often treat wounds resulting from illegal acts, correct? It seems likely that individuals would seek you out in the name of secrecy. Have you ever given out a client's information before now?"

"No way...people come to me _for_ that secrecy. This case was different after I found out who was backing him. For your sake, I bet you're glad I came forward," the succubus said.

Durand paused for several seconds and then nodded to a darkened corner of the room, another maid materializing behind the succubus a moment later to thrust a large steel sword into the demon's back without hesitation.

"W-why…?" the succubus asked as she fell to a knee, her blood pouring onto the floor from the soon to be mortal wound.

Durand looked back to me as though unwilling to waste any more time on the demon. "You had a contract, however unspoken, to protect this man's secrets as well. Those that break contracts are lower than filth. Fairness demands that I accept your apology in the taking of your life, and offer this letter of credit to the wronged party."

I wasn't really sure how to feel about what I'd just seen. I'd gone from an anger that wanted to see that succubus die...to guilt that I'd ever considered the thought in the first place.

Not even watching the demon's last moments, Durand spoke to me again. "You seem distressed. There is no reason to fret. Magical translocation sickness is common among humans. The sensation will pass," she coldly stated as she had a pair of her servants clean up the "mess".

"You're just going to ignore that you just killed that girl?" I mumbled in disbelief.

Durand grimaced before looking back at me. "It seems the fanciful stories of your intellectual capacities were apparently little more than stories. Peace, order, and civilization can only exist when built upon a foundation of honesty. Nothing is more sacred than a promise-a contract. Do you disagree?"

I shook my head, finding it hard to argue with logic I normally used myself. "It just doesn't feel right...we don't know her reasons or motivations. I just...feel like there should have been another way."

"To what end?" she began with a look of disdain. "If she was successful in her deception once, she would do it again. Would you prefer that such a creature reproduce? Perhaps teach her young to behave in the same way or spawn a new phenotype that survives on lies and deception?"

This was like listening to myself with the volume on compassion turned all the way down. It also sounded like she was talking about an evolutionary concept as well. I didn't have any sort of counter-argument. I'd never met anyone that could be as callous in their real life as I could pretend to be while arguing those exact same points.

"I just don't like it."

Durand's imperious look meant that she knew she'd destroyed my argument and now had designs upon my feelings. "Truly? If it hadn't been for her tip, you'd still have a debt of several hundred million gold to repay to me instead of the nine million you currently owe after recompense from her betrayal. I am curious, however, how you expected your market play to work."

That number seemed...familiar.

Beaten on every single front, I chuckled in defeat. "It wasn't supposed to work. It was supposed to fail badly enough to break you."

My answer earned a look of amused surprise that seemed utterly foreign upon Durand's otherworldly perfection. She then lost herself in thought for several quiet seconds before finally responding, "I am not often surprised. The sensation is not unpleasant. Let us retire to my quarters. I would have you offer your energy before I extract the ritual."

That was the last straw that pushed my perceptions of the situation from dire to ludicrous.

I laughed loud, doubling over before her as I was unable to contain my mirth. "This...is so much...funnier because you aren't...joking."

Her expression didn't change as she simply watched me. She was certainly all business…

Finally regaining my composure with some sense of my business sense, I had a thought. Flashing her an amused look, I asked, "What are you offering?"

At that, she frowned. "Your legal wife has offered you for the purposes of settling a debt."

I shook my head with a smirk. "Is that how that works? I suppose she's given her permission, but several hundred million gold changed hands on the most recent occasion I volunteered to let a woman fuck me. You can champion the unspoken agreement if you want...but the last time I checked, I was just a very expensive registered whore...and that is a _spoken_ agreement."

Her frown remained, but the rest of her put on the obvious production of intrigue. "Interesting. Rather than a deficit of intelligence, you possess a pitiable surplus of unnecessary emotion. I believe I already know your pointless answer to this question, but what do you want?"

Wait...was something actually going _right_? That had me convinced of the very real possibility of the entire castle falling into the sky or spontaneously turning into pudding.

I spent a moment appearing to be lost in thought, already knowing exactly what I wanted. "A nearly virginal sort like me? How about nine million gold...and you release everyone in that ritual room as well as Delilah?"

She shook her head. "And that is why your answer is pointless. Despite it working in my favor to bring you here, I have nothing directly to do with Delilah's detainment of your family despite providing resources and magical assistance." She paused a moment to let that statement sink in before continuing, "My counter offer is nine million gold, enough to cancel our debt, and the only possible explanation for Delilah's actions-to be delivered to you in four days."

It was hard to believe that Durand wasn't behind the capture of my family but it occurred to me that, based on everything I knew of Delilah, I had to be missing something. That certainly wasn't new...but an explanation of Delilah's actions would be extremely valuable. Would simply finding out the reason behind all of this be enough, though?

"Why four days? And how do I know that information will be useful to me? Even if I don't know as much as I should...I want my family back," I said while trying to stay calm.

It was obvious by her expression that she knew she had me in the palm of her hand. That also wasn't new information, but something in our dynamic had changed once I started to believe that she was being honest in claiming she had nothing to do with Delilah's actions.

She ran her hands back over her shoulders and up through her hair, letting it fall back across her flawless pale skin like a jet-black waterfall. "Four days is the revised duration on how long I will have your body as my plaything. Having the information I can offer would also allow you to stop Delilah from accomplishing her goal." She stepped toward me and reached toward me, her hand stopping just shy of actually touching me. Sighing, she added with finality, "I will also guarantee the lives and safety of Delilah and those she brought here. That will be my final offer."

That had to be the best offer I could possibly get, right? It actually seemed too good to be true.

"There isn't a catch?" I asked.

"That is my final offer," she restated. I guess it didn't matter if there was a catch.

I nodded, unable to come up with any reasonable objections in my state of mind. "I accept, then. It's not as though you've given me much of a choice."

"The terms have been set. Mira?" Durand called out casually, her voice seeming to echo into eternity.

Stepping from one of her portals into the room, the witch appeared with a disturbing smile on her face. "You called?"

Never looking away from me, Durand calmly demanded, "Begin preparations in the central ritual chamber and have my handmaidens scrub the filth from this overpriced whore."

Suddenly looking very nervous, Mira moved about in place. "You're going to start the ritual now? Are you sure you-?"

"I do not believe I stuttered," Durand replied, her tone nearly chilling the room.

"Right...I'll take care of it," Mira hastily answered back.

"I'll be retiring to my...lower chambers. Have him brought to me within the hour," Durand stated before leaving the room through a set of double doors.

Hesitating only a moment, Mira began pushing me toward the other end of the room. "Wonderful. You _really_ messed up this time. I swear on the Lords...if you destroy everything we've been working for…"

"Whatever you have to say, you can save it for someone that gives a shit. If you wanted me to help with whatever the hell you've been planning, then you should have thought about that before leaving me in the dark about it," I said with unmasked disdain.

Grumbling in anger, Mira pushed me into the arms of a succubus in a traditional maid outfit. "If you knew what was happening here, you'd ruin everything. Whatever...you'd better not lose yourself in Durand...you haven't made good on what you offered during our little game." Mira then looked up at the young succubus and continued, "Durand says to scrub him down and have him brought to her lower chambers."

"Lower chambers? I'm sorry...I'm sort of new here," the maid admitted, her face red as she bowed deeply in apology, her spaded tail pointing nervously at the ceiling at the same time.

"The dungeon, you twit!" Mira exclaimed.

"D-dungeon?!" the maid said as she nervously slid around me, tripping into Mira as she did so. "Omigosh! I'm so sorry!" the maid said as she tried to help the angry witch to her feet.

"It's fine!" Mira said as she took the offered hand and dusted herself off, letting the anger out of her system before continuing, "I don't blame you-this place is huge. It's down four flights, past the kitchen, and then down another flight of stairs in the west hall. And be careful with this man...if anything happens to him-finding a new job is going to be the least of your worries."

"Y-yes! I understand," the maid said as she quickly lead me away from Mira, the witch shaking her head as we moved away.

Under normal circumstances, that little exchange might have been a lot more amusing to me. As things stood, however, I was just lost in my own thoughts as I tried to cobble together this enigma without what were likely the most critical pieces.

"Rough day?" I asked the maid as we walked, trying to make small talk and to distract me from thoughts of what was likely awaiting me in the dungeon.

Her voice catching as she seemed to barely hold back tears, the maid nodded as she continued to lead me through the labyrinthine castle. "If you had any idea how much of an understatement that was, you'd laugh."

I smiled a bit, holding back the bitter laugh that tried to escape. "If it makes you feel any better, I might have you beat. I just lost a hundred million gold, found out that someone that's supposed to love me has been betraying me for god knows how long, and apparently I'm about to have four days of 'fun' in the dungeons with Durand. I can't imagine that she's going to be at all timid if she's having me brought to the dungeon."

As she led me into an elegant washroom and closed the door behind her, the young succubus shook her head in disbelief. "I'd love to know how you had a hundred million gold to lose in the first place...or why you'd do something to lose it all at once. But...um...could you take your clothes off? I need to make sure you're completely clean."

It wasn't going to do any good to bitch about things now. In hindsight it was probably one of the dumber ideas I'd ever had, but if it had worked out exactly as I'd hoped, I might have owned this entire castle after one of my allies bought out what was left of the destroyed Durand's accounts.

I complied with the request and sat on a nearby stool at the maid's request as she brought over a bucket of steaming water.

"So why's your day been so bad?" I asked. "Maybe it'll help to talk about it."

Bending over to grab a sponge, the maid took a breath to answer before her face suddenly went pale. She dropped the sponge and then dashed to a drain in the middle of the room and doubled over to begin vomiting for several minutes, crying profusely between each bout of heaving.

Did mamono even get sick? I was afraid to ask and figured I may as well make the maid's job a bit easier as I started scrubbing myself with the sponge.

Standing back up on wobbly legs as she wiped away tears and saliva, the maid came back over to me. "Well there's that," she said with a sniffle. "Oh, and please don't tell anyone about that…"

"My lips are sealed," I said, adding, "But...I didn't even know mamono could get sick."

She sighed as she got back to work scrubbing me down, surprising me that she didn't linger on the juicy areas. "Yeah, well...whoever decided to call it 'morning sickness' never said anything about it lasting all day."

"Oh… _oh!_ " I exclaimed. "Uh...congratulations? Is the father…?" I let my question die as I realized that the answer might be a sore spot.

With a wry chuckle, she began scrubbing my toes. "The father's a whore, completely destitute based on what I've heard...and has no idea. I don't know if I'll ever tell him. Most other mamono I know would be jumping for joy over this news but I won't be able to afford to even feed this girl once I have her. So I need this job to take care of things...but it's just so hard to concentrate with the constant nausea and my hormones probably all over the place."

"Eesh...okay that is pretty shitty. Do you want me to put in a good word for you?" I asked in an attempt to be helpful.

"Lords, no! I'd rather they forget I exist until pay day comes around," she said as she pushed a wandering strand of whitish blonde hair from her face with the back of her hand. "Okay, don't get too turned on. Going in for the good parts."

With that, the maid began a very thorough cleansing of my...delicate areas. I tried to keep my mind on pure things, but I was still sporting an unintentional sign of readiness within seconds. "Uh...sorry about that."

She frowned. "No, no, it's fine...really. It's great. Don't mind me. This is just one more thing to complain to my diary about later."

A few more minutes of uncomfortable silence later and a bucket was dumped over my head to finish the task of washing. Then, after a thorough drying job, I was handed a set of clean clothes.

"Oh, and...you must have dropped this," the maid said as she placed a small sphere into my hand.

"What...is this?" I asked as my eye was drawn to orb and the tiny landscape it contained. "I didn't...huh?"

As I looked at the miniature scene within the glassy sphere, I saw a small hill with a single tree. Like hearing part of a song I couldn't remember, the image set my mind into frenzied overdrive as I tried to grasp what my mind suddenly felt was so important to remember.

Drawn deep into the sphere, my eyes drew shut as a torrent of the associated feelings surged to the surface first. Without a reference point, those emotions would have driven me literally insane. In the few heartbeats before I'd have lost myself to a shattered fugue state, those feelings bound themselves to the pale shadows of the returning memories that had spawned them in the first place.

The memories hit me like sledgehammer to the forehead, one after another. Like unwound yarn being pulled back into a single thread, the images pulled together into a cohesive whole, shackling me as irrevocably as they tenderly embraced me.

 _...  
"Mind if I call you Del?"_

 _Barely forming a whisper I said, "Del, you awake?"  
Without moving she quietly answered "Yes...I am always awake."  
"Oh right," I thought; undead don't sleep. "Wait," I said as the realization hit me, "so what were you doing this whole time while I was sleeping?"  
With her soft voice she simply responded, "Contemplating new potential necromantic theorems."  
"Really? Anything else?"  
"Holding you."_

 _"Why would a monster listen to the request of a human?" Del asked. "If she has sworn herself to that human upon her very essence, the better question is-why_ wouldn't _she?"_

 _"Have you forgotten? I told you that I'm yours...you...do not have to stop yourself if you want to hold me. This is...not fair. Every moment you are not here is an eternity within my otherwise pointless existence. You made it matter-you made my loneliness until now worth something..."_

 _"Sometimes you must be forced to do things against your will for your own good."_

 _"What do you want me to say, Risa?" I asked trying to meet her confused gaze.  
"I want you to say that you were lying when you said you'd stay with me."_

 _Risa seemed to be asking the sky, "Joe, you know that this is going to end horribly for you, right?"  
"Any worse than being dead by my own hands?"  
"It's possible...maybe even likely"_

 _"What would you do if Del or I were in serious danger...like if you didn't do something specific, something was going to kill one or both of us?"_

 _"You're rubbing the spot above your heart where she always keeps her head."  
"I hope you're right."  
"There is absolutely no way she would leave you and there's no way she'd let even someone as powerful as my mother take you away."_

 _"Then let's pretend that I made a joke, you got it, and everyone had a great laugh at Joe's expense. Mmmkay?" Risa belted out, far louder than was needed.  
"Understood. I failed to process the hilarity."  
"What are YOU smiling at?" Risa asked, greeting the stupid grin on my face with a failed attempt at showing anger.  
I blinked before answering, "The hilarity."_

 _"If what I had experienced...before, had been anything like that, I would be a far different person today," Del whispered, her voice seemed to fade as I began to slip into an exhausted slumber, "I do not deserve either of you."_

 _"See something you like?" Risa asked with a wide smile, snapping me from my reverie and making me realize I'd been staring.  
"All sorts of things-everything."_

 _"I just felt her move!" I spouted in a harsh whisper, nearly smacking myself as I felt Risa stir in her sleep.  
"Your warmth is different than Risa's so she likely knows you are checking on her. Perhaps she already has a touch of your amusing arrogance and is trying to impress you."_

 _"You'd stay with any girl that flipped her tail at you…"  
"You're the only girl who's ever flipped her tail at me."_

 _I finally laid Risa down on a tuft of grass near her cart and promptly collapsed, finally gasping for breath. Even if I did lose myself completely, I had this moment to remember. Memorizing every scent, every sound, every twinkling point of starlight, and the caress of every dew-covered blade of grass upon my exhausted muscles, I marked this as my 'save point'. An almost inviolable memory location._

 _Laying on the cool grass, I saw two sets of eyes peer down at me and then to each other. A moment later Del and Risa joined me on the ground, Risa snuggling up against my right side and then pulling my arm across her shoulder, Del settling on my left side with her head laid gently over my heart._

 _"Are you attempting to find a reason to hate me?" Del asked in a distant voice._

 _"Del, is there anything you aren't telling me?"  
"Several things"_

 _I saw a momentary vision of starlight through cypress leaves, heard the warm, living breath of summer, felt the touch of a pair of violet and a pair of viridian eyes, remembered the song-remembered myself._

I didn't realize that I'd continued to walk as the memories consumed my consciousness. The orb within my hand had become a piece of empty transparent crystal as my lost memories finally settled back into my brain, precisely where they belonged.

Where did everything...go so...wrong? _Had_ everything gone wrong?

The thoughts of Meryl and Zee seemed to pull in together with those of Del and Risa. My mind wasn't being forced to accept that I could only have some small part of my happiness...but that I should take as much joy as my hands could possibly grasp.

There was so much that I needed to do, to say, and to understand. Sadness thrust an icy spear of remorse straight into my heart as I remembered myself staring at my own children like strangers. I then nearly fell to my knees in bitter regret as I considered what I'd said to Del just in the last hour.

If I didn't figure out what was going on here and a way to stop it, all of the women I loved were going to end up beyond my reach forever. I knew that in the pit of my soul.

All I knew for certain was that it had something to do with that blessing I'd gotten from Miranda. Hadn't she said that I would need to pay a high cost to get these memories back?

Considering everything that had happened before and after the sundering of my memories, I came to one absolutely certain thought.

I could no longer believe that Delilah would betray me.

Even if I woke to find her standing above me with a dagger dripping my heart's blood, I'd trust her. There was a reason for all of this...and the fact that Del wasn't telling me, added to the confusion of Mira's statement, meant that it was something she didn't want me to know...or that my knowing somehow put me in danger.

I was no closer to a real answer, but I had back most of the important pieces I felt I needed. My eyes came back into focus as I shook off the daze that I'd been in for several minutes.

As the succubus maid and I approached the door to what must have been the dungeon, I saw Delilah standing near the entrance, her unsleeping eyes upon me in emotionless regard.

I looked away. It was better that she continue to act as though I've forgotten our time together, I reasoned.

"Stop," Del said in a soft but commanding whisper just as I was about to pass by her. "Look at me, Joe."

I tightly clenched my jaw as I turned to look down at her, only to see her at eye level as her necromantic conjurations held her up. Del couldn't know that I had my memories back...that I would very likely need to stop her from carrying out what she was attempting...or that every single second my eyes lingered upon her was like a barely resistible siren's call that consumed in milliseconds every part of my reason that demanded I _not_ embrace her.

"What is it now?" I asked, pretending to project the anger I'd felt at her before while continuing to keep my eyes averted.

Our eyes finally meeting as I chanced a look toward her, I lost my composure as I saw her own eyes shot through with the familiar black veins. She did little else but rapidly blink in a vain attempt to push away the tears that continued to well up, even her tears beautiful as they shone with the violet radiance of her eyes.

"I knew you would remember in the end, my love." Her voice was like the melancholy chill of late autumn rain, seeming to fall only to remind one of winter's fast approaching bite.

I stepped toward her and attempted to speak, "Del, you have to sto-"

Silencing me as she placed her soft lips against mine, her arms snaked around me to embrace me tightly. Her entire body shaking in restrained longing, her more than ample curves pressed against me feeling more like apologetic plea than avowed promise.

As Del pulled away, her disembodied necromantic hands covered my mouth to prevent me from speaking. "No, Joe. This is how things must be. I will repay my debt and I will protect my treasure." She hesitated for several interminable moments before continuing, "However painfully fruitless it is to beg this of you...please try never to forget that you were loved by a simple girl named Delilah."

No...this wasn't like with the goblins. Del wasn't wishing me luck; she was saying goodbye.

As I struggled to escape the undead arms that dragged me into the dungeon, I looked back at Del in desperation one last time before being dragged beyond the threshold and into the dark beyond.

"A simple girl among several others that, if asked, would gladly lay down their souls to protect you. Farewell, my love."

The door then slammed shut between Delilah and I, leaving me in darkness.


	35. Chapter 35 - Two Flames Clash

Chapter 35 - Two Flames Clash

The second assistant foreman of the Winged Expeditiousness and Facilitation department shook her head. "Look, for the third time...there aren't any winged transports in the city that would take anyone to a Teremir guild protectorate without express permission."

After being turned down by three different transport outfits, Zee had gone straight to the source, only to run headlong into a newfound and growing hatred of Alnor bureaucracy. Stalking back and forth in the small city office with her tail burning with an angry, ragged flame that mirrored the emotional maelstrom that tore at her insides, Zee tried in vain to hold to the calm she normally felt before a battle.

This was, however, the first time Zee had ever been faced with her own heart as an opponent.

Getting very nervous that her potential screams of pain or distress wouldn't reach a guardsman until she'd been plucked, spitted, and roasted by this extremely angry customer, the assistant foreman spoke up in an attempt to be helpful. "Transport is out of the question but if you just needed to ship something or deliver a message then-"

Her eyes lighting up as her flaming tail calmed almost immediately, Zee turned to the city worker while trying to hide a smile as the idea came to her. She took a deep breath and resumed her angry tone, "Fine! This shipment was supposed to be hand-delivered...but my employer will have to settle for an expedited emergency delivery."

"I...see," the harpy agent said as she tried to contain her sigh of relief. "Under the appropriate circumstances, my office does have the authority to allow for an emergency shipment assuming the entity has the proper license. What are you trying to send that is of such vital importance?"

Zee filled out the requisition forms with a decidedly inhuman quickness as she half-listened to the harpy's response, handing the completed stack of forms over a moment later.

"Grain, one crate."

-

I was sure my mind was going to snap as the assault of returning memories bent and warped my entire being. For so many reasons, I almost wish I _had_ snapped in that moment to spare me from the despair of nearly everything I loved falling out of my grasp.

Unable to do little more than squirm, I was shackled in an apparatus almost exactly like the standing rack in which Cecily had tried to aggressively convince me to give up on the very concept of being a man. The rest of the dungeon around me was little more than impenetrable shadows that seemed to be composed of the damning whispers of what awaited me.

Forcing myself to forget about Durand, I instead agonized over the small list of possibilities as to why the women I loved were in this situation until I came to one simple, horrifying conclusion: they were somehow planning to sacrifice themselves for me.

"Impressive," I heard Durand's voice call from the darkness as I saw an almost familiarly-colored pair of eyes appear from the gloom, her emotionless face appearing a moment later with the faintest look of sadistic glee visible. "It seems an interesting option has presented itself and so I will give you a choice, plaything. Would you prefer to know now the cause of your situation...or would you prefer to keep to our bargain to hear after our engagement has concluded?"

I was going to be helpless to do anything until Durand was finished with me and despite the implacable need to know what was transpiring above, I allowed wisdom to win out for once.

"I...would prefer to wait until afterwards," I said with no small amount of difficulty.

Her eyes turned ever so devious upon me as she spoke, "The terms of our bargain were quite specific. It would be a breach of the contract to tell you what Delilah's intentions are until the agreed upon time."

With that, her eyes disappeared, leaving me entirely in darkness.

"However…" she began again suddenly as the unfamiliar violet of her enchanted eyes split the darkness again, now narrowed. "You cannot possibly understand the joy I felt as I watched you, a simple mortal creature, lash out to attack me directly. It would be criminal to allow myself forgiveness were I to restrain myself from forcing your rebellious mind, body, and soul to shatter beneath my...determined touch. So I believe that I will tell you the secret that eludes you."

I couldn't help but laugh as I shook my head. "Yeah...contracts are _so_ important, right?"

"There it is again-your defiance in the face of an accepted universal truth," she hissed with a note of joy in her voice. "Is it not true that a game hunter only seeks prey that are a challenge? When your voice finally calls out to beg for me for nothing more than to claim you, to keep you...to _own_ you, it will taste that much sweeter." She then paused as her voice seemed to move, her breath now on the back of my neck as she whispered in my ear, "And I would not be violating the letter of our contract if I simply told you of the blessing while avoiding how Delilah intends to deal with it, however obvious it may be at that point."

I felt a shiver run up my spine as Durand's breath moved across my skin. Despite myself, I found my salacious mind drifting to fantasies of what this unholy woman had planned for me. I was well past being able to hate myself for something I could barely control and something that had very nearly defined my existence within this world. That said, if she thought she could break me, she was damn sure going to need more than four days.

Or so I had to believe.

As I felt the sensation of a thousand fingers lightly brushing across my skin, her voice continued, shattering the tangible silence that was left when she wasn't speaking. "The Blessing of Ten Steps Reversal is, like any true blessing, magic that is or mimics the power of the Lords. The amount of power needed to call them forth is immense beyond the understanding of most."

Miranda certainly isn't a Lord and that she was able to place that blessing on me must mean that it is somehow different.

"That blessing is different," she said suddenly, as though reading my mind. "For any normal mamono to place what many call the Lord's Blessing of Fertility upon someone, for example, would require the energy of dozens or hundreds of mamono focusing upon the ritual for years or even decades. I postulated during an academic symposium some time ago that this is because what the Lords do is not the same as what we call magic-rather that they are so intrinsic to the existence of the island that they change the system to suit their desires, rather than channel power through the system itself. No Lord has yet been willing to divulge her secrets toward the end of proving or disproving this hypothesis, but I maintain that it is the most likely possibility."

While I might have found this fascinating at some other time when the lives of my loved ones hung in the balance, at that moment my mind screamed "shut the fuck up" on an endless loop.

"Sadly, it seems you are a bit too distracted to be interested in such concepts at present. Well, the Blessing of Ten Steps Reversal is different in that the potentially catastrophic cost is paid only _after_ it has been invoked."

With those few words, the gravity of my situation started to fall into view. Even as my body betrayed me with a steadily growing arousal as it was caressed seemingly by the vibrations of the words she spoke, I began to struggle against my bindings more fiercely.

Almost purring in joy to see my reaction at her words, she continued, "The cost of your little attempt to play with the powers of a Lord is no less than your utter unmaking. Beyond pain, death, and even the destruction of your soul itself, being 'unmade' would make it as though you never existed. No memory or record of you would remain, save in the memory of the Lords that are beyond the grasp of such magic, and your every past action would be undone or attributed to others."

As she spoke, I threw myself against my restraints with every ounce of my being. There was only one possibility for what Del was intending...and my entire family had stepped up willingly to support her.

Her voice still cold but almost trilling in delight, I felt an unnatural heat begin to cover me as she continued, "Miranda was a fool, casting that blessing without knowing the true cost. And you, my delicious plaything, called upon that ritual a full _ten_ times. Had you stopped sooner, the cost would not have been nearly so great. If you had drawn upon it but five times instead, it's possible that your death or soul alone might have satisfied it. One could speculate that a more even distribution of that cost-among several individuals, perhaps-might result in a smaller effect. But what is the worth of everything you have ever done or will ever do? I suppose if you were to suddenly find yourself here to save a family whose names and faces elude you, we'll know the answer to that possibility. If you had simply paid the cost and sacrificed yourself, your family would have remained alive and well, albeit with every memory of you gone forever."

I cursed my idiocy as I wondered how things might have been different if I'd simply read a few more pages of that ancient tome from the Blacksky archives. That was why I couldn't know what Del was planning...she knew damn well I'd never let even _one_ of the people I love be sacrificed in my place.

All I needed to do was get to the room with the crystals above and allow the blessing to extract its payment from me. The time I'd spent learning magic through Delilah's mind have given me enough understanding to be clear on that, but how long was Del going to wait before she tried to remove that possibility?

"Medea-Wormtongue if you will, bears the scars of trying to work with the Lord's power on a much smaller scale-and it very nearly wrote her out of existence. It's disappointing to see her now, one of the few true rivals I've ever had, willing to sacrifice herself for a simple mortal."

She paused a moment as I suddenly felt icy pain lance through my skull. "Before we go any further, I must claim this. The ritual you've brought, stolen from my rightful grasp by that worm many thousands of years ago, however, is an answer to that little problem. I've been gathering energy for nearly ten thousand years to call this blessing forth upon myself-to allow me to tinker with the tools that were the sole purview of the Lords. And still your interest seems unchanged. Perhaps we could strike another bargain? If you swear yourself to me for eternity, forsaking all others, I will use the power that I will obtain from the long-awaited completion of this ritual to pay this arcane debt and make certain that you and your family are spared."

As she finished, a long trail of strangely familiar runes seemed to draw forth from my forehead, pouring like water in slow motion into the darkness and Durand's waiting hands.

"Please...just let me go. I don't care if you gain the power of a Lord or even a god just so that you could kill all of them with your bare hands, but you don't need me. I can't let Del go through with what she's planning! Give me some other way to-" I could do little more than rage at my helplessness as my tears burned against my skin.

"Already begging?" she said quickly as she cut me off, "I expected it would at least be a few hours before such a point would be reached."

With that her eyes flared and I felt the barely perceptible teasing of my skin stop...before I felt the clutching, undulating, velvet embrace of my manhood being enveloped by something very similar to Del's conjured serpent.

Her eyes and voice began to fade into the darkness. "I'll give you a day to think about it. I've placed a mystical seal upon you that will prevent you from spilling even the smallest drop of your seed even as you are driven to ecstasy beyond any you've ever experienced. Perhaps tomorrow I will deign to allow its release within me."

"Wait! I'll…" I began, knowing that I had to stop Del, even if it meant sacrificing my freedom or even my existence. Del, Risa, Meryl, and...oh god, my girls...

Everything might be over in a day! I no longer sensed Durand's presence as my senses were driven under by the relentlessly sexual consumptive motions of the magical construct. I tried desperately to focus on what was important, but the hunger of my body devoured my reason and left me little more than a gibbering fool, desperate for orgasmic release.

Buried in complete darkness as the necromantic serpent drew me along the razor's edge of release without mercy or respite, I quickly lost track of the time in my torment. Lost in pleasure, I squirmed helpless as each second stretched into a near eternity of perditious delight.

It did occur to me that I'd been through something exactly like this before that had resulted in me being completely lost in a broken catatonic fugue. This time though...felt different. The complete blackness of the dungeon was certainly preying upon the weakness of being deprived of my senses and, while I was sure it might eventually overpower and shatter my consciousness, it was nothing like the impenetrable shroud of the sensory oubliette that Risa had thrown over me before. And no matter how impossibly good the serpent's ministrations might have felt, they fell well short of the true rapture of feeling Del's perfectly soft body pressed against mine as she drew me within her.

Those weren't the only things that had changed, but there was another piece of this puzzle that had yet to fall into place in my mind at that point. It wouldn't be until Durand appeared the following day that I would start to realize that there was some other important change to my being of which I was still unaware.

-

-Some time later-

"There's nothing on the manifest about a grain shipment! I've triple-checked all of our orders and this simply shouldn't be here," said Durand's receiving manager.

Wiping sweat from her brow with her wing, the harpy delivery girl shrugged. "Not my problem. Take it up in Alnor with whoever this...Nukita Consortium is. That's the heaviest grain shipment I've ever delivered and you can kiss my tailfeathers if you think I'm taking it back!"

With a huff, the harpy delivery girl leapt into the air and began the flight down the mountain and back toward Alnor.

Now angry, the ant girl called for a contingent of guards. This certainly wasn't the first questionable shipment Durand had received and it certainly wouldn't be the last. While this could have been part of one of the many clandestine "shipping" operations the ancient lich had running, she didn't want to take any risks with an unscheduled delivery.

Several minutes after the ant worker's message had been received, a Dullahan wearing armor emblazoned with the symbol of the Violaceous Regard appeared with a contingent of a dozen of Durand's elite guard and a handful of mercenaries.

The Dullahan, Penelope, saw the single crate sitting on the floor of the outside aerial dock and was about to order one of the guards to open it before a maid sprinted into the loading area.

"Miss Penelope, Miss Mira says that your presence is required at the Mistress's central ritual room," the succubus maid said, now doubled over trying to catch her breath.

"I was just there. Are you certain?" Penelope asked calmly, used to the occasional odd request after having been the leader of Durand's security forces for just over eleven hundred years.

"Definitely. She said it was urgent so I rushed down here to find you," the maid answered, still trying to catch her breath.

Penelope nodded. "Understood. Maxine, you're in charge here. Have Dahlia or one of the other mercenaries check the box in case of an arcane trap. If there are any problems, send word. Most of our forces have been dispatched around the island but we've still got four dozen of our elites as well as Durand's Fang Coterie if there are any issues. Do not worry."

Once Penelope had left, the faultlessly obedient ogre Maxine flashed a cruel smile to slender salamander Dahlia. "You heard her so go open it. Let's hope fate takes this opportunity to pay you back for disrespecting our command."

Dahlia smirked as she drew a single one of her short curved blades and stepped lightly toward the mysterious crate. "Let's hope so, commander, because I've already apologized three times for setting up those prize fights. I just needed to blow off some steam and it's really not my fault your girls kept losing all their money betting against me. Too bad the Marshal Penelope had to come break my streak."

"She wasn't there to duel you in a prize fight, she was there to enforce the rules. Stop talking and just open it!" Maxine shouted, flushing a bit with embarrassment.

"Right right, I'm on it," Dahlia said as she looked down at the large wooden crate. "There damn well better _not_ be an arcane trap on this or heads are going to roll," she whispered to herself as she dug her claws into the wood of the lid.

A split-second later, another red-scaled hand exploded up through the lid to grasp Dahlia's wrist, the rest of the crate disintegrating a moment later as Dahlia's younger sister Azalea sprang to her feet in a torrent of wooden splinters and stalks of wheat.

Holding her falchion at the ready with her spear resting at her feet, Azalea was nearly covered from head to toe in blackened metal armor. A far cry from the light leather affair she had worn of late, Zee was now fully decked out in her hordebreaker armor, the heavy armor still bearing the shallow scars of countless battles.

Quickly taking in her surroundings, Zee saw as the well-equipped ogre Maxine raised her hand to signal her company to draw a bead on the intruder with their bows.

Not even looking surprised, Dahlia kept her blade held in check as she smirked at Zee. "Long time no see, sister mine. Didn't you make some sort of promise about kicking down the front gate the last time I saw you? This seems a little too...inspired for one of your plans."

"That's rich, coming from you. You sold out any more of that Ashtail pride since I last saw you?" Zee countered as she began to take small steps sideways, still holding Dahlia's wrist. "Sorry, just going to use you as a shield for the moment while I figure out how to play this one."

"You are a real piece of work, you know that? What exactly do you think you're really going to be able to do here anyway?" Dahlia finally asked as her look turned more serious. "These Violaceous Regard elites are no joke and even if you could handle these twelve, there's at least 3 more groups already suited up and ready to move on an intruder...not to mention whatever Durand's Fang Coterie is."

Zee looked past her sister as she took in her surroundings, seeing a large pair of double doors as her likely target-conveniently located just beyond where her enemies were all standing.

"That's about what I was expecting...actually I was _expecting_ a lot more soldiers. That'll make this a lot easier. Thanks for the heads-up," Zee answered, clearly distracted with trying to construct any sort of potential battle plan.

"Zee, look," Dahlia said as she gripped the top of Zee's breastplate with her claws. "This isn't going to happen. Even if I wasn't here and you managed to cut your way into the castle, Marshal Penelope is more than you can handle. If you give up now they'll just throw you into the dungeon for a day or two and then have you escorted down the mountain."

Her finned ears twitching somewhat as she took in the rest of the scene, Zee looked down at the sister she thought she'd lost and bit back the tears that tried to escape in that moment, the slight misting thankfully hidden by her heavy helm. "I can't do that Dahlia, I...just can't. Even after what I did to you and your hus-"

Surprising the larger Zee as well as all of the assembled soldiers, Dahlia brought the back of her hand across the front of Zee's helm as a slap in the face. "Let's get one thing clear, Zee. Some day you _will_ be brought to task for that, but I and the clan are more concerned about our survival. We don't have a single man or married couple to our name after everything that's happened and Durand has promised to change that." Dahlia then looked away with a strange look on her face for several moments before continuing, "If we had _one_ single man to our name then things might be different but that's how things are right now, sis."

Lowering her eyes, Zee straightened her helm before answering back. "I know I deserve whatever punishment you could come up with for what I did to you, Dahlia. But that is that, and this is this. I won't hesitate to go through you to get to Joe if I need to."

Turning back to Zee, Dahlia then spoke in a deadly serious tone, "This stupid mercenary job is that important to you? You'd cut down your own sister _again_ then take on these dozen well-trained soldiers _along_ with Lords only know how many more within...all for this man? Seems silly to even ask but have you even slept with him? Do you love him?"

"Yes, Dahlia," Azalea answered simply.

Her eyes going wide in shock Dahlia put a hand on Zee's shoulder. "Wait...yes to which part?"

"All...of...them?" Zee answered haltingly, the fierceness of her hidden blush so intense that Zee thought it was going to melt her helm.

Dahlia was silent for several moments before belting out a hearty, good-natured laugh. "So my little sister is finally a woman. Never thought I'd see the day anyone would crack that fabled iron maidenhead of yours. He must be one hell of a guy if he managed to beat you, hmm?"

The two sisters continued to converse, seeming almost entirely oblivious now to the creaking of the taut bowstrings and dozen gleaming points of iron death shuddering in expectation of release in the direction of the intruder.

Zee nervously shifted her weight back and forth between her legs. "He...isn't anything like what I thought my first love would be. Nothing has gone like I thought it would, like I heard it might, or...maybe even how it should. But I won't stop. I won't let him go."

Her tone turning serious again, Dahlia answered sternly, "You know that puts me in a difficult situation, Zee. Part of me wants you to lose him so you might understand some small part of what I've been going through, but…" Dahlia shook her head before continuing, "You'd either give up again and run into the mountains to waste away until the end of time or you'd force yourself to find something important enough to keep you going. For me that thing is the survival and rebirth of the Legion. So I want you to consider for a second the possibility that there is no way you can save him...what would you do?"

"With everything that's happened and everything that's going on...I'd still take the risk to get him back. Something isn't right here and I doubt Durand is just going to stop at that ritual. That enough of an answer for you?" Azalea asked.

"So he's a keeper then?" Dahlia inquired.

"Yep."

Dahlia pondered for a moment before cautiously beginning again, "You know what I'm trying to do and it doesn't look like either of us is going to bend so let me ask this. Would you...be willing to consider returning to the Legion with him? Or...perhaps allowing the Legion to contract his...services? That's all assuming the unlikely chance that you survive this, of course," Dahlia asked with a note of heavy insistence in her voice.

Her eyes meeting Dahlia's in that moment, Zee finally understood how important the Legion was to her and just what she was asking.

For as much as he liked to bitch about being forced into anything, Azalea was pretty well convinced that Joe actually liked it, and on more than a sexual level. If she asked him to do it, he'd probably refuse, but if she told him he didn't have a choice…

Azalea was confronted with the pride she'd abandoned in herself after the incident, and with the one she'd wronged the most as the one asking her to return. If she could have that and the man she wanted, she didn't have a reason to refuse.

A simple nod was the only answer Azalea offered.

Dahlia nodded with a new mix of emotions running from relief to amped trepidation. "Well then I guess that only leaves one thing to do."

Stepping back and drawing her second blade, Dahlia turned to Maxine and spoke, "Call for reinforcements, commander."

"Reinforcements? Are you mad? It's just one salamander-we'll bring her down just as soon as you move," Commander Maxine answered back as she saw Zee prepare to make a massive swing at Dahlia's back.

"No, commander. By the time you see me move, this will all be over." Dahlia then smirked.

As Azalea's large blade came at Dahlia's back, making it appear as though the older sister was about to let herself be cut in half, she instead made a leap into the air and caught her taloned feet upon the passing flat of the blade with which Zee had swung, using the momentum to catapult her lithe body right into the center of the soldiers.

The soldiers were caught off guard by Dahlia's change of allegiance, but not nearly to the degree of their surprise at how quickly the smaller of the two salamanders cut through them. Like a bolt of lightning striking from a blue sky and with no less ferocity, Dahlia moved quickly enough to make it seem as if her opponents were standing still, bringing most of them down in seconds with countless slashes of her wicked blades.

It was over in moments as Zee used the distraction to close the distance and bring down the remaining three warriors that were still standing after Dahlia had begun her assault.

Stumbling back a moment before regaining her composure enough to draw her own sword, Maxine stammered as she backed away. "What are you doing, Dahlia?!"

Swiping toward the floor with her blades to clear the fresh blood from the now gleaming steel, Dahlia began to stalk toward her former commanding officer. "Giving you a few seconds to get a head start. I suggested reinforcements because you're dealing with _two_ Ashtail salamanders. You can probably catch us in the great hall with those reinforcements if you hurry."

Maxine didn't hesitate as she bolted from the room.

"You sure that was a good idea? They're going to know we're coming," Zee asked as she quickly stripped and bound the soldiers they'd just disabled.

"Hey, I just more than doubled your chances of seeing this man again. It's the only place we'd have a chance to make a stand without them getting archers on us from an elevated position in any quantity. Just shut up get those girls tied up so we can go," Dahlia said as she peeked around the corner to the nearby hallway.

Zee gave herself a moment to let her emotions calm back down. "Thanks, Dahlia."

"You can thank me if we don't die in the next hour. Now try to keep up," Dahlia finished as she dashed from the room with Zee close behind.

"Fire and Glory, Flame sister," Azalea answered proudly, the words drawing more than a few hidden tears of happiness from Dahlia as the pair of them quickly wound through the massive maze of Durand's castle toward the great hall...and almost certain death.


	36. Chapter 36 - Fire Never Dies Alone

Chapter 36 - Fire Never Dies Alone

If ever there was a time for me to keep it together, it was there...lost in the dark of Durand's dungeon. As long as I still knew what I was fighting for, it meant there was still a reason to keep fighting.

Even if I made my way free of this dungeon and up to the ritual room above, didn't that just mean throwing myself on the metaphorical altar of sacrifice? If that's what Del was trying to prevent...then why was she waiting?

The fact that she was waiting meant that there had to be more to this plan than I was seeing. It also meant that it was something about which I had to be kept in the dark.

"I swear," I gasped aloud into the darkness between the shuddering swells of pleasure that endlessly assaulted me, "If this somehow works out, I'll never keep anything from Del or any of the women I love ever again."

"Very curious," I heard Durand's voice seemingly whisper back in response. "I was sure you'd be begging the darkness for release by now. You don't read as an incubus and any insulating influence from the presence of the ritual should also no longer be present..."

Snapping back to some semblance of consciousness as I fought through the nearly overwhelming insistent pleasure, I looked up into Durand's eyes and answered, "If that's...the best you've got...you should go talk to Del about getting some...lessons."

I watched her eyes narrow as she seemed to shudder with delight at my continued defiance. "That's good, my little plaything. Please do try to maintain that mindset while I slowly milk out your essence over the next several days. The potency should be perfectly concentrated now and I suspect you're eager for a more hands-on approach as we continue."

In moments I felt myself spinning and wheeling through the emptiness until coming to rest on my back, the chilled stone of the floor beneath me an almost reassuring presence working to counter what I was sure would be coming next.

In the blackness, I saw Durand's two eyes joined by a third that opened above and between the others before the rest of her body came into view, now looking far different than what I had seen before.

From the pale skin of her back had burst six taloned, vaguely chitinous limbs of bone that gleamed with hints of what was likely some type of venom. The rest of her body was almost exactly what I had expected to see hiding beneath her sparse clothing, revealed now in its sinful entirety as it hovered above me like a hungering predator.  
Was this also somehow part of Del's plan? As I looked up at the already sodden entrance to Durand's sexual core, the entrance already contracting in expectation of the feast upon which it was about to gorge itself, I had to hope that it was. My mind couldn't have conjured a word of denial in the presence of such an insistent invitation anyway.

Finally coming down from her own high after several minutes, she cursed. "Grey Lamentation...I knew it. I will have to ask Delilah how she managed to mask it so well. It seems fate has other plans for you, boy." She then stood and reached down to spread apart her still-engorged lower lips, a sheen of white now covering them as several thick drops fell to the floor. "A ninety percent absorption rate is more than acceptable but perhaps we can aim for more later."

Still shaking so badly that I had difficulty forming the words, I tried to ask her to release me. If she heard me she made no indication as she turned and left the room. This time I heard the heavy dungeon door close behind her.

"What was I...Del!" I suddenly remembered as I struggled against my bonds, my strength now even further from up to the task of getting me free. Several fruitless minutes passed in similar fashion as I tried everything I could to somehow get loose.

After howling in frustration and unleashing a string of profanity as epic as any I'd ever concocted at my complete inability to move, I saw an unfamiliar light split the darkness, this one borne by a simple lantern.

I'd never been good at remembering people...especially in the short term. I'd also just been through one of the most harrowing sexual experiences this side of humility lessons, so when she spoke...all I knew was that the voice was familiar.

Setting the lantern down beside me as she began to work on releasing my bindings, I saw the succubus maid that I'd spoken with earlier.

"Seriously? Enchanted shackles? She _really_ didn't want you getting loose," the young demon said as she moved the lantern to more closely observe my situation.

"Not to sound ungrateful but could you maybe...hurry?" I restlessly asked.

"Just shut up and drink this so I can think," she spat back at me as she laid a waterskin upon my chest within easy reach of my lips.

Not in a position to doubt the intentions of my rescuer, even if those intentions were entirely less than pure, I sucked at the liquid within. It tasted like holstaur milk with various other unrecognizable things added. While not entirely pleasant, I let my complaint go when I felt my strength quickly returning as the refreshing liquid seemed to pour throughout my entire body.

"I'm Phina by the way. I'm sort of here to prevent something really bad from going down...or at least delay it. If Durand likes to run her mouth anywhere near as much as Medea then you have at least some idea of what's going on, right?" She asked as she began making charcoal marks upon a piece of parchment on the ground beside me.

"Right, I just need to get to the ritual chamber to make sure Del doesn't finish what she's attempting," I answered with certainty.

She angrily turned to me. "Wrong, jackass. I don't know exactly what she's attempting but if you try to do anything, you'll just fuck everything up. What you need to do is get the hell off this mountain and back to Alnor. I'll make sure your family is okay."

"Bullshit! How do I even know I can trust you?"

She turned back to the parchment before answering with an even angrier tone, "So then what are you going to do? Save Azalea and her sister from Durand's elite soldiers? Throw your entire existence away? Think back to what Medea told you!"

"How would you know about that?" I asked, suddenly even more suspicious of this mysterious benefactor.

She sighed heavily before answering. "I'm Medea's...I guess you'd say apprentice. All I'll say is to never make a deal with that woman...she took the life of the last man dumb enough to try and now I have to make a fucking miracle happen to honor his last request or I don't even want to imagine what she'd do to me. There is only _one_ way this can turn out right and you'll have to trust me for that to happen. You get me?"

With her tone as serious as it was, I was pretty sure she wasn't lying, but that didn't mean she was right. She didn't know Del like I did and there was no way I could just run home while the fate of everything I loved was hanging in the balance.

"Fine. If you can get me loose, I'll go to Alnor and wait for this 'miracle'." I lied as casually as I'd ever lied before.

She nodded, distracted as she mumbled to herself. "Threefold-no...fivefold runic enchantment...countermeasure should be…" she trailed off before loudly cursing, "Fuck it!"

As her words echoed through the chamber, her eyes ignited in coruscating blue flames that spread out and down her arms. As the ethereal flames intensified, she grasped the metal rings that held me and grunted as the metal grew warm, then scalding. Before I could cry out, the metal shattered, throwing red-hot shards of broken steel tumbling to every corner of the room.

Finally free, I hopped to my feet. "Wow, what did you do?"

"How would saying anything other than 'magic' even matter? Whatever. Now…" she began as she handed me my weapons and armor. "There's a Teremir guild road that runs down into the mountain and is about as safe as any road on the entire island, but it's better if you're armed so you don't look like an escaped slave. Just take this hall toward the large balcony and head to your right down the stairs. Do _not_ go left at the balcony-that'll put you in the great hall along with Durand's entire force. If you follow the stairs, you should come straight into Teremir proper and from there it's a cake walk."

I nodded as I dressed and armed myself. "What are you going to do?"

"Exactly what Medea told me to do," she answered with a sigh. "Well...get moving. You saw what Durand does to people that break contracts."

"Thanks Phina...I owe you one or two," I said as I dashed out the door toward the balcony.

Maybe running and trusting in Phina was the right answer...it just wasn't the answer I could be happy with. As the entire castle shook, I headed toward the great hall...and where Zee was probably fighting for her life.

-

Nearly a hundred meters across, the great hall was like a massive reception area that quite blatantly impressed upon any observer some small fraction of the sheer wealth that Durand possessed. Pieces of art from across the island from empires both lost and thriving, masterfully carved columns to accent the decadent decor, and the flawless accentuating architecture of the castle itself that had left the west wall completely open to the outside. Or would have. Rather than an open construction, the west wall of the great hall was constructed from magically shaped ice that drew in and bent the light of the sun to illuminate the room better and more fully than a thousand lanterns could have.

Marshal Penelope stared emotionlessly at the pair of advancing salamanders and then at her fortified contingent of well armed and armored members of Durand's private army. It was obvious to her trained eye that this pair had fought together before. Even with her exceptional grasp of tactics it didn't look as though the enemy had much chance of bringing down more than a small handful of her soldiers before they could be overpowered and brought down. She didn't, however, feel that it was prudent to take any risks with her master so close to her most important goal and so she ordered a nearby and nearly invisible maid, "Fetch the coterie."

"Scared of just the two of us, Marshal?" Dahlia called out suddenly, causing nearly every assembled soldier to jump as though she'd leapt to attack them physically.

Penelope advanced to the head of the assembled force and shook her head slowly. "Stand down. There is nothing for you to gain here. Your human will be released unharmed in a few days. If you do not withdraw we will answer with deadly force. Do not throw your lives away on a pointless venture."

Stepping forward, Zee shook her head, "No, he was taken here against his will. I'm not leaving without him."

"Your objection is noted," Penelope answered as she gave a signal with her hand before crossing her arms in expectation.

Informed by hundreds of years of battle experience and instincts screaming that something was _very_ wrong, Zee dove to her left as a blur passed by where she'd been standing only a moment before, her heavy helm clattering across the floor after taking a hit that might have otherwise pierced her skull.

At the same time Dahlia was reeling from a similar strike, her own exceptional speed however having let her score a deep gash upon her attacker at the same time.

Moving so fast as to appear as though they were materializing from nothing or winking in and out of reality, a cadre of five women appeared in a semicircle before Zee and Dahlia. Speaking in whispers and now looking curiously at the wound that the smallest among them had sustained from Dahlia, they turned to regard the two scaled invaders.

Dressed in tight fitting leathers and armed with ornate daggers that looked to have been carved from dragon teeth, the Fang Coterie was a group of obvious vampires.

Wiping away the blood that began to run from the gash on her forehead, Dahlia quickly spoke, "They're too-"

Likely trying to say "fast" before being cut off by the vampiric assault, even Dahlia's exceptional speed was no match for the supernatural quickness that began to rain countless strikes down upon the pair of them.

Despite being a great deal slower than her sister and slower still than her undead attackers, Zee put up a valiant attempt to keep her assailants at bay. After narrowly avoiding or deflecting nearly a dozen attacks that should have killed her, Zee was eventually left unable to respond as a trio of the Coterie fell upon her at once.

Holding off the first two attacks made it impossible for her to avoid having her legs kicked out from under her, sending Zee to the floor. Dahlia took two painful slashes across her back as she dove to support her sister, only to find herself unable to twist away from a kick to her chest that threw her into the air.

Seeming to fall in slow motion, Dahlia sustained three more telling slashes before even getting the chance to hit the ground.

After that exchange, the undead attackers pulled back to regroup and watch the apparently outclassed salamanders roll about on the ground.

Coughing as she tried to catch her breath, Dahlia brought herself up to a knee and extended a hand to Zee. "Got them right where I want them now...how about you, sis?"

"Maybe...what time is it?" Zee asked as she slapped Dahlia's offered hand away and slowly got to her feet.

"Couple hours after noon...why, you think they'll let us break for lunch?" Dahlia teased, the look in her eyes still light despite the deadly situation in which the pair found themselves.

Pulling her kiseru from her pouch, Zee smiled back. "Just curious is all. I've heard smoke is terrible for nice rugs like these. Was thinking of grabbing some air before finishing these girls off. How hard did you hit that one you scratched, by the way?"

As she spoke with a forced air of calm, one of Zee's clawed feet angrily grabbed and scratched at the fancy rug beneath her.

"Hard enough. Damn undead...I swear that's like cheating," Dahlia answered.

Interrupting their conversation, Penelope's voice called out to them from across the hall. "This is your final warning. You are grossly outmatched. Walk away."

"What's in it for us?" Dahlia shouted back with a giggle.

Obvious anger slipping into her voice, Penelope called out the order, "Fine! Finish these trespassers."

"You know, I really missed this, Zee. Still think this man was worth it?"

Zee didn't respond at first as she jammed her spear horizontally into a nearby display cabinet and took a long quick draw upon her kiseru before emptying it and shoving it back into a pouch. "Didn't father always say that there was only one way to deal with a cheater? Oh...and he's still absolutely worth it."

Flinching slightly at Zee's words, Dahlia shook her head as the vampires seemed to wink from sight as they began moving supernaturally fast toward their targets.

Already moving to leap past Zee, Dahlia took two more attacks as she landed on Zee's spear, using it like a springboard to hurl herself diagonally forward over Zee's left shoulder, swinging her blades in a wide strategic arc. Also already on the move in anticipation of any number of things that were transpiring, Zee flexed her scaled toes and fiercely yanked on the fancy rug she'd been playing with as she reached her powerful arm into the empty space before her.

Less than a second later there was a sickening crack of breaking bone and a shower of blood as, at once, Zee endured two blades puncturing her breastplate...and snapped the neck of the off-balance vampire that had found herself pulled right into the Zee's grasp faster than she could react while trying to avoid Dahlia's blade to which her attention had been drawn.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood as the room seemed to freeze, Zee began walking forward with the vampire's body held in one hand and her falchion held in the other. Backing away in momentary shock and possible fear, the remaining vampires looked to Penelope for guidance.

"I've got a better offer," Zee's voice boomed across the hall. "Bring me Joe and you can all walk out of this hall alive...minus this one."

Penelope's answer was already evident in the anger that began twisting her features from those of a calm and serene leader to those of a rage-stricken drunk.

Before she could tender the answer that was obviously coming, Zee spun and hurled the (even more) lifeless vampire at the icy west wall with all of her strength. As Penelope's order rolled across the chamber to signal a full attack, there was a massive shuddering crack as the room shook and the ice wall began to crumble, the great faceted barrier of frost setting off an avalanche as it fell away and opened the room to the biting cold of the air outside.

More than just letting in the chill of the great mountain, the collapsing ice wall sent beams of the unfiltered afternoon sun gleaming into the room. The chunks of ice, snow, and diamond dust made the sunlight dance throughout the room in a kaleidoscopic beauty that not a single soul in the great hall could be bothered to notice.

As those scattered beams of sunlight touched the bewildered Fang Coterie, Dahlia became the fastest woman in the room again, cutting the now powerless undead apart in a matter of seconds as Zee yanked her spear free and moved forward to join her sister to receive the charging soldiers. As she passed near the shattered wall, she ventured a look down to see that the drop to the next landing was two hundred meters or more.

Tearing a large strip from her shirt, Dahlia quickly tied the cloth around her forehead to prevent any more blood from seeping into her eyes as she turned to Zee. "First rank will be light, it's the next three and the marshal we need to worry about. You took a couple bad hits, you sure you're up for this?"

Grunting a bit as she painfully adjusted her breastplate, Zee moved to a wide open stance and smiled. "I'm your huckleberry. I won't die until after I see Joe again, I swear it."

With the enemy coming within range, Zee hurled her spear at the closest girl's head, a timely shield block sending the spear well overhead. With the shield covering her field of vision, however, Zee's low strike severed her foot at the ankle.

The enemy soldier screaming as she stumbled to a knee, Dahlia took three quick steps forward and used the fallen soldier's shield to leap into the air. Quicker than the enemy could respond, she used various heads and shoulders as stepping stones to throw herself clear of the charge, badly wounding a small handful of soldiers with her blades as she passed.

Zee dove forward through the hole in the advancing line and grabbed the shield of the fallen woman before brutally throwing a sweep kick into the legs of the second row of enemies, buying her precious seconds. Her heavy armor and quick movements saved her from any real damage as she donned the shield and pushed to her left. Using the split second she'd earned to breathe, she ducked low and leveled a heavy swing at the soldiers coming from her right to further slow the advance, her falchion ringing out as it was caught upon a pair of shields. The advance slowed regardless, Zee then rose into a shield bash to her left that sent a pair of enemies screaming out into the sky through the hole in the west wall.

With a great yell, Zee then lowered her head behind the shield and charged toward the edge of the enemy formation, her brightly flaming tail grabbing at the ankle of another of the enemy to pull her in front of another small part of the enemy formation.

As she weathered the many blows that fell upon her, none of them telling enough to slow her pace, she approached the edge of the formation as the enemy ranks shifted and gave pursuit. Throwing her shield as a distraction, Zee sank her passing blade deeply into the hip of the dazed enemy, quickly grabbing her shoulder and wheeling about to use her as a piece of improvised cover.

With her new shield of orc flesh, Zee brought down three more opponents before the enemy's surpassing discipline overcame their hesitation to cut down one of their own. Zee, however, had already released her, leaving the orc standing helpless as three of her own allies cut her down.

Clear of the advancing formation and now sprinting, Zee dove into a roll to come up with the spear she'd lost only moments ago, making two quick thrusts to dispatch another pair of enemies as she came to her feet again.

She was doing well so far but Zee knew that unless something changed soon, it was only a matter of time before she was overwhelmed. It also occurred to Zee that the expected magical support was nowhere to be seen. She let that absence shine upon the tiny glimmer of hope that she would get through this.

With her masterfully trained pair of weapons, Zee fell into the well-honed steps of her uncanny instinct as she slipped calmly into the flow of the battle. Like a well-tuned machine built for war, she kept up a rhythm of escalating bloodlust.

One weapon would make an opening while the other quickly moved to exploit it, her steps always making sure that she had the advantage. All the while, Zee allowed herself to be slowly surrounded as she carved a bloody path back toward the chilling air and howling wind that continued to rush in from outside.

Dahlia appeared to be faring much better even while completely surrounded as the enemies were dispatched with lightning quickness as they tried to step over the slippery blood and fallen dead to get to her. Her blindingly quick attacks lopped off the hands and fingers of the soldiers that tried to clear away the dead as well, all while she danced like a candle flame in the wind to avoid even the most skillful attacks of her opponents.

Against any traditional force, the demoralizing inability to land an attack of note on either sister would have likely lead to a rout. Much to the chagrin of the two sisters, however, the force arrayed against them was as disciplined as any they had ever faced and with the skills to match.

The continuing battle and her wounds starting to take a toll on her, Zee finally found herself positioned where she'd been intending as she was surrounded. Finding her goal in the shape of a large ogre, Zee went low as she brought her tail against the floor to act as a feint and then spun as though about to attempt a clearing slash, instead throwing her falchion at the bulky green-skinned girl and then lowering her head as she continued her rotation, grabbing her spear in both hands.

Even as a trio of heavy blows landed on the now blood-covered Azalea, the enemies that had just been standing behind her blinked in horror as they realized what was coming.

Screaming in exertion as her clawed feet dug into the stone of the great hall, Zee held her spear wide and violently pushed with all of her might into the two ranks that stood between her and the open sky. Even as her spear snapped under the strain, a half-dozen enemies were given surprise flying lessons and two more were dragged with them as the stumbling women tried to grab for anything to save themselves from the already blood-covered stone below.

That small victory was won at great cost, however, as Zee suddenly screamed at the pain of her hamstring being almost completely cut by the blade of Marshal Penelope's oversized kusarigama, the chained weapon seeming to almost magically avoid hitting any of the other soldiers despite the amount of room such a weapon would normally take to use effectively.

The moment she took the wound, Zee knew there was little more she'd be able to do, having been robbed of a great deal of her mobility. Hoping beyond hope that Dahlia was faring better, Zee caught sight of her sister covered in blood from head to toe and trying to compensate for a disabled arm and leg, the extended length of this battle now proving to be more than her energetic fighting style could handle when coupled with the wounds she'd already taken.

Breathing heavily with her exertion, Zee used part of her broken shaft to block another attack as she buried the pointed end in the throat of a shieldless lizardman in the confusion. Using her tail to compensate for the loss of her leg, Zee tried to reach for her falchion, still buried in the chest of the now fallen ogre.

Knowing what would happen even before it did was the most upsetting part of this to Zee. Throwing herself off balance and overextending to earn the only chance of survival in that moment saw her left arm broken by the mighty swing of a heavy warhammer.

Having sacrificed her left arm, Zee managed to come away with her falchion in her right quickly enough to bring down one more attacker before a horrible unfamiliar pain in her chest made her falter and fall to a knee.

Looking down, Zee saw the blood covered steel of Penelope's scythe-like blade where it had punched through her breastplate...having torn all the way through her back to get there.

As her great falchion slipped from her numbing fingers to clatter on the stone below, Zee looked up with tears in her eyes to see the man she'd come here to rescue as he crept into the room, thus far unnoticed.

"Huh," Zee said, smiling slightly as her consciousness began to fade to know that she'd kept her oath in seeing her love one last time.

-

I wanted to scream as I saw Zee take what would could only be a mortal blow from that emotionless Dullahan. This was yet another horrible tragedy that was all my fault...a piece of my heart dying before my eyes.

Barely even still standing, Dahlia had dropped her weapons in surrender or from sheer exhaustion as she was roughly thrown to the floor and tightly bound, even as she howled in a sickening cocktail of pain and grief.

As I watched the life as it seemed to flee from Zee like embers from a dying fire, her beautiful steely eyes glassy and unfocused as they closed for likely the final time, she remained upright on her knees. The remaining soldiers still kept their distance, taking extra care to avoid the blood-caked falchion that had sent so many of their comrades screaming to their final destinations.

Hidden from view, I silently blinked away tears as I prayed Zee was somehow still alive. I knew she had a tiny vial of mermaid blood in her pouch that could save her if I could somehow get it to her.

"Orders, Marshal Penelope?" one of the soldiers suddenly asked.

"Get a few of the maids to clean up this mess and throw that one in the dungeon until we find out what Durand wants to do with her," Penelope commanded, adding, "Do not defile the other's body. Our master may have a use for it."

"Permission to claim her falchion, Marshal?" another ogre asked, her attire suggesting she had a higher rank than the other soldiers.

"Granted, I leave it to you to decide who keeps it, Maxine."

Penelope then moved toward the edge of the shattered ice wall and looked down to ascertain the fate of those that had fallen.

I was never going to get a chance to save Zee if the soldiers kept milling around and if she had any chance of surviving, I couldn't waste anymore time.

"We should throw it off the mountain. Not worth keeping a weakling's blade," an elf said as she spat at my fallen lover.

That was the moment that rage overtook reason within me. Only moments ago that girl would have sooner leapt to her likely death than face my Zee alone.

With most attention focused elsewhere, this would be my only chance. Even a miracle wouldn't have made it possible to handle even a fraction of the two dozen soldiers alone so I had to gamble on the longshot I hoped might take the fight out of these mamono.

I pulled my weapons free and began walking across the hall, my only real attempt at being stealthy in keeping columns between me and Durand's forces as much as possible. Coming quietly and quickly upon my first target as she continued to look over the edge of the missing west wall, I felt a spike of adrenaline as she turned to look in my direction right as the flat of my blade sent Penelope's head flying from her shoulders and out into the howling wind.

Her body made one clumsy attempt to grab for me as I tried to leap back, slipping on blood and falling onto my ass in a stroke of luck to avoid her grasp. With my actions thankfully unnoticed and masked by the volume of the wind near the shattered west wall, I was able to get back to cover and start moving toward Zee.

Slipping closer to Zee, I made two final bounding steps and then tried to carry out my three part attack upon the nearby elf as quickly as possible. I made a thrust with my primary weapon at the back of her knee and then another at the back of her shoulder in the hopes of keeping her mostly immobile, finally shoving her feather light body aside as I rifled through Zee's pouch as quickly as I could.

Screaming in pain as my blades connected, several of the soldiers turned and saw me, giving me only seconds to find what I was looking for if Zee had any hope of surviving.

"Please please please," I chanted over and over until my hand seized upon a small vial that I knew was what I was looking for. Opening it to try and quickly force feed it to Zee, I only managed to get the cork stopper free before hands grabbed to restrain me. Tossing the vial at Zee's face as my last desperate attempt to accomplish my goal, I watched in despair as the small splash of blood missed her mouth completely, falling across her nose and closed eyes.

"Marshal!" the ogre Maxine quickly shouted as she approached, "Looks like this one somehow got loose from his-" she stopped suddenly when she saw Penelope's headless body as it stumbled around blindly. "You two, go fetch the marshal's head!" she added with authority to a pair of girls that had been running over toward the commotion.

"What do we do with him until then?" I heard a voice ask from behind me as I was dragged roughly across the hall, my weapons tossed aside.

"Commander...it might do for morale to let us chew this one up a bit. Durand started her ritual early and they probably won't find Penelope's head for hours," I heard another voice suggest.

"Fuck all of you!" I screamed as I struggled to squirm free, succeeding only in having the painful grasp upon me grow even tighter. I turned my attention back to Zee, hoping to see even the slightest movement from her. "Zee! Please...I can't lose you. You came here to rescue me and I'm here...just please reach out and take my hand."

Laying a huge backhanded slap across my face, Maxine scowled down at me. "You assaulted the marshal and one of the girls from my _personal_ unit. So this is your mate? Good. You can look at her while we all have a go with you right here. Strip him and fuck him-Durand already has her ritual so I don't care if you fuck him to death. Be as rough as you want-that's an order. And get a healer up here for the wounded!"

I was slammed face down onto the floor as the soldiers began trying to peel my clothes from me as quickly as possible, many of them licking their lips and stripping off their own clothes in preparation for what they planned to do to me.

For my part, I was beyond caring what they did to me. Perhaps if I died, Del might even stop with her crazy plan anyway. Despite how I felt about Del, Meryl, Risa, and even my girls, the warming thought that they would survive was little consolation in the face of being raped to death over the next few minutes, hours, or days.

I closed my eyes to accept the pain and shame that was to follow. If this was what fate had in store for me from the start, I wish I'd gotten the memo.

As the snickering jeers of my next likely dozen sexual partners began to grow in volume, I picked up the deep hungry breaths of one girl in particular, obviously anxious to get her hands on me before anyone else.

Or so I thought before I heard the slow scrape of steel across stone and then the feral reptilian hiss I'd only heard once before.

"Mine…" the now barely familiar voice rasped as a growing red glow began to penetrate my closed eyelids.

"Oh Lords, t-to arms! She isn't dead!" the woman holding me shrieked before her voice was suddenly silenced as a warm splash poured across my naked back.


	37. Chapter 37 - To the Last Ember

Chapter 37 - To the Last Ember

-Elsewhere-

Dropping to a knee, a fearfully shaking maid approached Durand and spoke in a haltingly anxious whisper, "Mistress, I have...news."

Not pleased with the interruption as she went over her final preparations for the ritual, Durand curtly replied, "Speak."

Her eyes remaining on the sumptuously carpeted floor of Durand's study, the maid nodded and began, "The intruder is being aided by the mercenary Dahlia. Penelope has engaged them in the western hall."

"And?" Durand's imperious voice demanded.

"Yes...and your...guest has escaped the dungeon," the maid nervously added.

That seemed to have gotten the lich's attention, her tone, however, remaining even as she answered, "Find out who among the staff aided him-his early escape would have been otherwise impossible. It is...regrettable to consider the likely scenario that is about to transpire. Contact me immediately if he reaches the eastern ritual chamber but do not otherwise impede him."

"Yes, mistress. Understood."

-

"Move, move, move, damn it," the woman cursed as she moved as quickly as her body would carry her.

The woman had two possible choices before her, given what she'd seen of how the battle was progressing.

Could she overcome the almost primal fear that suffused nearly every fiber of her being to act? Or would she remain idle and let things transpire as fate intended?

"Why did _he_ have to get involved?!" she cursed as she made her way to her destination.

She gave up on reason and decided to let her instinct make the decision for her when and if the time came to make it. As she involuntarily shivered at the painful memory that rushed unbidden to the front of her mind, she gritted her teeth and continued.

Whatever choice she made would need to be made soon.

-

Eleven against one.

The odds may as well have been branded across the back of my eyelids for all the good keeping my eyes shut was doing at holding back the sickening thoughts of Zee's impending death.

Half naked, covered in blood that wasn't my own, and face down upon unforgiving stones that now drove the icy chill of the mountain through every inch of me, I shook my head and forced my eyes open. I loved Zee, and no matter what happened here or how badly I wanted to run away, I owed it to her to bear witness or to die beside her.

For all of the training Zee had put me through, I was likely to be outmatched by any single one of these women if she knew I was coming, but if any action I took drew even a single strike away from Zee, then I was more than willing to pay the resulting cost. I would be worth less than nothing if I did nothing and let Zee die while she fought for her lover-while she fought for me.

Blessing the haste with which Durand's elite had wanted to strip me that left my armored clothing still half-on, I was able to quickly and easily pull everything back into place before scrambling to grab my weapons. Moments later I was on my feet to survey the scene before me.

My rapidly darting eyes breathed in a scene that a vindictive war deity would have been hard pressed to assemble. It was immediately clear to any reasonable perception that the odds were impossible after all.

Even with several of the enemy soldiers only partially armed and armored as a result of their overeager preparations to steal a ride upon my overused sexual implement, that only bought Zee seconds as she was almost immediately surrounded. Terrified beyond measure and watching the entire world in an adrenaline-soaked slow motion, my advancing steps may as well have been the first of a hundred mile marathon.

Helpless in my approach as nightmare itself was drawn upon the reality of my perceptions, I watched as three cruel blades pierced Zee's already blood-covered armor with the sparking shriek of metal crossing metal. Zee stumbled for a moment as her frenzied breath seemed to quiet.

With Durand's soldiers still distracted, I swallowed the bile that threatened to well up within me at thoughts of the barbarism that was only moments from technicolor realization as I lunged at the first unprepared soldier between me and Zee. Dooming my action to almost certain failure as her eyes caught me far sooner than I would have hoped, she moved to pull her broadsword free from where it had been buried in Zee's belly only to realize the futility of her last moments as an unexpected resistance saw her arm jerk, unable to withdraw the weapon to defend herself.

"Mine…!" Zee hissed again, angrier and more powerful than the last time as her badly bloodied fingers wrapped around and held fast the invading blade, making it impossible to withdraw as my weapon struck true.

The shriek of pain from the unfortunately unarmored dwarf became a slow gurgling death rattle as I withdrew my blade from her punctured lung and stepped back. The confusion of the moment and my earnest desire to return some of the pain these women had dealt to my Azalea was bolstered by an ever growing desire to live as I held my ground, even as I fought to keep my shaking hands from throwing down my blades in disgust at what I'd just done.

Getting clear wouldn't be an option as the two closest enemies quickly turned toward me. Facing a spear wielder as well as a paired sword and shield, my only chance at any sort of advantage was to stay close and risk the sting of that sword to try and gain some momentum.

Ducking back and under the expected swing of the spear shaft, I then heavily shifted my weight forward as I rose into a thrust at the unarmored armpit of the nearby minotaur, causing enough damage to almost completely immobilize that arm. I didn't account for the fact that she could still crush me with her good arm as I tried to leap further around the circle to avoid the other approaching warrior.

My following attempt at a feint resulted only in the almost sad ringing of Tizona as my blade was easily held aside by the shield of the far better trained orc in her approach.

I'd been caught by my critical misstep and both of them could see it as the minotaur moved to grab me and the swordswoman moved to prevent my escape. Faster than the pair of them, however, was the approaching bonfire of Zee's tail that hit me squarely in the chest and sent me hurtling across the room and momentarily out of the fight.

Fighting for breath as I rolled back and up to my feet, I began to dash back toward the fray. As I advanced, I watched as Zee pulled the broadsword free from her gut with a shower of blood, not hesitating even a moment as she turned and savagely drove it downward into the shoulder of an assaulting goblin that had been approaching from behind her. The blade passed through flesh, bone, and eventually stone as the flailing goblin was pinned to the floor, bend over backwards into a grim and broken tribute to the letter 'c'.

Any of the usual finesse of Zee's fighting style was buried beneath a bottomless sea of a boundless rage as she brought her falchion to bear upon her enemies more like an artless cudgel than like the masterwork I knew her weapon to be. In seconds, however, four more enemies were on the ground with wounds that would almost certainly be mortal, even with the benefit of magic.

In the span of the next three heartbeats, I watched as the ogre Maxine, still fully armed and armored, managed to deflect one of Zee's brutal swings on her shield and bring her warhammer directly into the salamander's chest. With a sound reminiscent of a train running broadside into a dump truck, Zee's breastplate gave way in collapse and bent inward in a way that couldn't have left a single one of Zee's ribs unbroken.

Even flying backwards through the air from the force of the assault, Zee grabbed an attacker with her broken left arm and another with her flaming tail as she fell.

Growling in determination, I put my head down and sprinted toward Zee as fast as my legs would carry me. Deflecting one incoming swing as I parried with both weapons, I spun around the blade and made two more steps before the wooden shaft of another polearm hit me high on the chest and clotheslined me.

Blessing the impossibly hard dragon scales that protected me, I still landed on my back nearly a meter away from my attackers and still well away from Zee. I was able to manage a single strike at the unprotected leg of my assailant that did little more than anger the approaching lizardman before she brought the shaft of the polearm across my face, snapping my head around and filling my vision with stars as I nearly passed out immediately.

I looked to Zee and watched with a growing feeling of horrified disbelief as my lover used the already dead body of a werecat she had grabbed with her tail and the choking and soon to be lifeless goblin in her broken left arm as a pair of shields until she was able to tear away her useless breastplate and rise to her feet.

There was no reason Zee should have still been able to stand in the first place as every moment painted her body with a quickly mounting panoply of horribly grievous wounds. With her hair soaked and matted with blood, her chest looking to be almost entirely caved in, and her wounds from earlier still seeping blood, she looked more like a walking corpse than even the most ragged zombie I'd ever seen.

"What are you?!" I heard the ogre Maxine shout as she took a wary step towards Zee.

I shook off my daze as best I could as my vision swam, dangerously close to that all familiar blackness. As I then looked up at Zee, I saw her spit a mouthful of blackened blood to the floor as her heaving chest returned to something closer to normal with a thunderous crack of mending bones.

Taking several deep breaths as her lungs were once again given leave to actually fill with air, Zee's feral voice split the air with a single word, "His."

There was no way that the small amount of mermaid blood I'd thrown at Zee would have been enough to heal any of the series of devastatingly grievous wounds she'd suffered, even if I'd managed to get her to drink the entire vial. Something else had to be at play here, but the luxury of a free moment to consider what that might be was an impossible fantasy. I'd worry about that in the unlikely event that we both survived this mess.

Seconds later I watched as Zee's broken arm seemed to crack back into place, just the sound of it enough to send one of the remaining soldiers running.

She didn't get far as Zee's thrown falchion ripped straight through the back of what was ostensibly the wisest woman in the room. At that, the rest of the soldiers, save Maxine, ran screaming for their lives, leaving me alone in the blood-drenched gallery with Zee and Maxine.

Pushing myself up to a knee slowly enough to let my head acclimate to the change, I turned back to Zee to see that her eyes had abandoned their familiar steely grey color to take on a jaundiced yellow, any of her awareness beyond the battle seeming lost to the fury that consumed her.

Appearing to not care that she was weaponless, Zee charged at the larger ogre and tore her shield away faster than I could blink, ignoring the two thunderous impacts that hit Zee on her left shoulder and then deep into the ribs on her left side. The third swing Zee was able to catch as she grappled the ogre, the pair of them hitting the ground as they rolled toward the open sky of the west wall in their shared attempts to choke or beat the life from the other.

"No!" I shouted as I hopped to my wobbly legs and dashed toward them, casting my weapons aside.

After several more failed attempts by either combatant to take full control of the grapple, Zee grunted as her tailed wormed between the two to give her enough room to unleash a mighty kick into the ogre's chest, sending the woman sliding across the smooth stones and into the almost certain death of the open sky. Maxine wasn't about to give up there, however, as she took hold of Zee's tail in a vengeful act that would see them both falling to their deaths.

Still sprinting, I dove forward as I watched Zee's clawed fingers slip free of the stone. Diving forward and then sliding to the edge, I reached down and, nearly impossibly, grabbed Zee's arm in both hands before she could fall to oblivion.

With a reasonably solid grip on Zee's scaled arm, I brought my feet under me as I strained to try and pull her up.

"Don't take this the wrong way Zee...but you're...really heavy. Help me out here," I grunted as I tried and failed to pull her up any further. All she'd need to do is reach up with her free hand, and she should have been able to pull herself up.

Looking up at me as the rage slowly bled out of her, Zee took on a faraway look as she flashed a weak half smile. "Joe? Oh...right. Hey Joe...I need you to do something for me."

No...that was not what I wanted to hear.

Seeing the look on my face, Zee looked down before continuing, "I know that look. Fighting like that has always been taxing, but since Uruk it just takes everything out of me. I just don't have anything left."

I screamed as I continued to strain to pull Zee back up over the edge. "Then why did you fight?!"

She finally looked back up at me and answered with a smile, "Because I chose to. Somehow I knew you'd be here and a girl is allowed to show off to the man she loves."

"Come on Zee!" I pleaded as I looked around desperately for anything that might help me get any more leverage. "I...can't hold you much longer."

"I'm really really tired so just...take this and listen a minute." Weakly swinging her tail in my direction, Zee tossed a small pouch up onto the ledge. "Look at us, Joe-look at you. It feels like an eternity ago that I met you as an aimless, pathetic wanderer...and you met me as a soulless mercenary. And now? Even if I didn't love you...you're the best friend I've ever had and I'm not going to let you think this happened because you weren't strong enough. Strength isn't just in how hard you can swing a sword."

Zee stopped speaking as she made an anemic swing with her dangling arm upon one of my shaking hands as I put everything into holding on to her.

"I won't let go...please don't do this Zee…" I continued to plead, my whispering voice carrying even over the roaring din of the outside wind as my grip began to falter. "I need you to be my bodyguard-no...more than that...this isn't over yet."

She gave a weak laugh. "I'm your huckleberry, Joe...even if you can't see me, I'll never stop watching over you...in this life or the next," she stated with a smiling certainty as she blinked away tears before adding, "You...made me remember what it was to be happy. Not every choice is easy to make, love, and I don't _want_ to let go...but I won't take you down with me, so this will have to be-"

As she cut her own sentence off, she brought her free hand up and, even in her weakened state, pried my straining fingers loose as she began to fall, slipping from my grasp.

Smiling as she fell away from me into the near white-out of the blowing snow of the mountain, I saw her mouth, "my choice," before I finally saw the bright flame of her tail disappear completely.


	38. Chapter 38 - Forlorn Resolute

Chapter 38 - Forlorn Resolute

I stared at my empty hands for what must have been hours. Even as the biting chill of the mountain grew ever colder at the sun's retreat to the horizon, I continued to stare at my hands. Even with those hands aching and covered in blood, I could still feel Zee's incomparable warmth each time I pulled my fingers into a fist.

That warmth had been taken from me, like so many other things, by this world that seemed determined to eschew rest until I was buried within it along with everything I loved.

The handful of inches between myself and an end to the pain that had long scorched its way through my despair-blackened body beckoned to me. The howling of the hateful wintry gale only further taunted me with the promise of the only possible escape from this horrifying phantasmic mockery of a life.

But I had made a promise. It seemed so innocuous in its utterance that it would have been impossible to conceive of the soul-rending agony that loomed over every moment of that promise's fulfillment.

I had to live. More than that...I had to _want_ to live.

Impossible. Or...very difficult, at least.

My eyes remained pointlessly focused on my empty hands as small piece of melting ice fell into my palm and then ran onto the stone, taking some small measure of the blood with it. In path left by the tiny river, I saw the bruised and calloused skin beneath.

Those roughened callouses would never have existed if it hadn't been for my twisted determination to make Zee mine-wouldn't have existed if she hadn't forced me to train with her every single morning.

I closed my eyes for many long moments as I tried to turn my thoughts upon warmer times and warmer places. As my tears, frozen within me until that moment, finally melted enough to fall freely at the happily glowing thoughts of Zee, I managed to find a center in the knowledge that the callouses that Zee had helped create would disappear if I didn't continue to train or if I let myself waste away in despair. If I kept up my training then...at least that small reminder of her might always remain.

"Requiem to a Predicament," I whispered aloud as my mind made the short song hers, each moment spent with Zee carved into my memory. It seemed fitting given how many pained voices often screamed out in accompaniment to that particular tune...and also how I wished a righteous angelic avenger had come down from the heavens to save Zee in her final moments.

Wiping away tears, I picked up the small pouch Zee had left for me. Inside I found three letters, one addressed each to me, Dahlia, and Azalea's mother, her familiar kiseru...and a single gold piece. While I was still tangled up with another very pressing task that demanded my attention, I decided to spend that moment with Zee...or at least the words she'd left for me. I moved across the wide chamber, away from the chill wind of the outside and sat on the floor, leaning back against one of the heavy columns within the room and opened the letter with no small amount of trepidation.

 __

 _(the next few sections have been crossed out)_

 _Hey Joe_

 _First of all, if you're reading this letter and I'm not already dead, you're about to be in some real trouble._

 _I'm also really hoping that if I am dead that you're not staring at my corpse as you read this. That'd be sort of weird, so...move somewhere else if I'm currently a bloody stain on the ground next to you. I can wait._

 _Damn it. This seemed like such a good idea when Meryl told me to write this letter for you but I'm no good with words and I don't know if the moment you're reading this is one where you need to cry, smile, or stop being a bitch._

 _Sorry. That was mean. Let me start over._

 _-_

 _Joe. Every time I think about you I start feeling..._

 _NO NO NO_

 _-_

 _Dearest Joseph,_

 _The merest thought of your towering manhood sets my heart atwitter as thoughts of your thorough and complete ravaging of my desperate body lay heavy upon my thoughts at all hours of the day and night._

 _I want you to do things to me that would make Delilah blush like a virginal schoolgirl. Tie me up and make me beg you for release like a dog as you deny and torment me by making me watch you defile our beautiful fox princess companion with your ambrosial seed and-_

 _Shit...she's waking up. This one was all me, love. Zee's going to kill me…_

 _~Your Sexy Fox  
(end of crossed out section)_

 _So I found out today that parchment is actually pretty expensive and I'd rather swallow broken glass than ask Meryl for a loan so here we go._

 _I'm not any better with words than when I started this but I had to do something. I hope you never have to read this...but I know the pain of leaving important things unsaid and at least this way I'll get to say some of them._

 _Are things pretty bad right now? Part of me would like to think that they'd have to be for you to be reading this in the first place. Maybe saying these things will just make things worse for you right now, but if I'm dead then you have to forgive me, right?_

 _There are so many things I want to say. I think the first is that you reading this is just more proof that I fell for the right man. I try to think about how hard it would be for me to open a letter like this...or if I could even do it at all._

 _Every single day I was with you I watched you grow stronger by leaps and bounds. Your fighting skills definitely improved...but what impressed me was your heart. You managed in a couple days what I'd spent months trying to work out with my own misplaced guilt over what happened in Uruk._

 _I know that you probably need a lot more than a dumb compliment to get you through what you're probably dealing with right now but I don't know what else to say on that._

 _There's still a long road ahead but you're a survivor...and I want you to always be that way._

 _Maybe fate really is out to get you. I've never met anyone that seems to have such horrible luck. But Joe...that misfortune lead you to me and all the other women you care about._

 _The only way to spite an enemy that's stronger than you'd ever be able to handle is to just keep getting up. You've been doing it all this time and you're going to keep doing it. I believe in you._

 _Stand up, Joe._

 _We'll see each other again. You know how I know? Because that would be the best way to show that so-called "fate" that she can't beat you. Maybe I got to the supposed afterlife before you, but I'm sure I can kill plenty of time with all the people I've sent here and the ones I brought with me on my way while I wait for you to get here. And it better not be soon._

 _I love you, Joe...and I love that even in the short time I was with you, you made me understand what it means to say that to you...and that no matter how many times I say it, I'll always feel like I need to say it just one more time._

 _~Your Azalea_

 _PS Since I owed her and since she told me she could "guarantee" she'd make it worth your while in a huge way, I promised Dahlia you'd put an egg in her. Call it...a big personal favor to me._

 _PPS Meryl says I should give you a place to meet if you somehow got this letter and I wasn't actually dead. I doubt that'll ever happen since I'm keeping it next to my kiseru and I haven't lost that thing in five hundred years._

 _I really don't don't want you aimlessly out there looking for me if I'm gone, but fine...I'll give you an old Ashtail riddle for this one._

 _"North of the Dead Woods, chasing Charisse's tail. Within the spider's tribute, salute the coat of mail."_

 _There. It's super dangerous and full of traps so I just wouldn't even bother going. You'll just be sadder when I'm not there._

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I knew my grief would have to wait for later if I was going to stop Del...and if Zee was watching, I wasn't going to let her down.

With a heavy sigh I got to my feet and then gently and carefully folded the parchment back up and and stowed it with the other letters, Zee's kiseru, and the single gold piece in my otherwise empty gold pouch.

"Time to move," I muttered aloud as I headed for the other side of the hall.

"If you're certain you're ready," a familiar voice called out in response.

Not even turning to look at the succubus maid, I picked my weapons back up and silently sheathed them, then moving toward the far side of the room and the stairs that would lead me toward my goal.

I heard her steps as she moved to follow me. "If you'd listened to me, Azalea would be-"

"Get away from me," I coldly replied, halting my steps.

Her steps continued to draw her closer as her every word hit me like a hammer. "Because you're doing so well on your own, right? How exactly were you planning on dealing with Durand herself when she shows up?"

"I said get the fuck away from me!" I screamed as I turned to the young succubus. "I don't care what Medea made you promise to do, I just...want to be alone," I added as my voice softened slightly.

"You're lying," she answered back as she stared at me with determined and pitiless eyes. "I'm a sorceress, Joe. And Medea's apprentice. I know what you're thinking. I'm sure we're going to have it out sooner than later, but now isn't the time for that. For now I just wanted you to know that I was with you. We don't have to talk or anything."

I turned back away from her and sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'm going so just...please be quiet."

I could almost hear the slight smile in her voice as she tried to respond. "I'll be like a ghost. You won't even know I'm...oh god-"

What she was about to say turned to bullshit before she could even finish saying it as she fell to the floor and began throwing up her dinner. Seriously?

"I'll be-hrng-fine…let's just go," she managed to force out between her retching as she began to cry almost hysterically.

If they ever discovered a mamono that lured in prey with tears, I'm sure I'd never see another day of freedom.

"Come on...it's going to be okay," I offered softly as I turned and moved next to her, gently rubbing her back between her demonic wings while helping to hold her black and white hair back.

"I'm not even upset *hic* I don't even know why I'm…" she tried to claim as she bawled like a colicky infant.

Thankfully, Phina's sickness passed within a few stressful minutes and we were able to get moving. I wasn't sure what this succubus was supposed to be able to do or what she was planning to do, but her presence was, perhaps strangely, making me feel a bit better.

"You are such a horrible person, you know that?" she said as she shook her head with a look of disappointment. "You actually smiled for a second there while I was crying my eyes out."

"Aren't...ah...I mean, weren't we going?" I nervously replied.

I _really_ didn't like the idea of a woman following me that could actually read my mind. Though, maybe I should have been more appalled that I'd never been fully able to shake my guilty pleasure in the misery of others.

Nobody's perfect, right?

-

Damn but this castle was gorgeous.

Even while walking through hallways that were comparatively unadorned when placed up against the individual rooms we passed, each reminding me of a presidential suite in a five-star hotel, I was dumbstruck that there was no place I could lay my eyes that didn't scream of extravagant riches beyond even _my_ full comprehension.

I didn't have time to dawdle but I really wished I did.

All too soon, the pleasant distraction and mostly silent guidance from the succubus behind me lead me to a door that represented all of the fearful dread that had lain like a pall over my entire existence on this island.

With arcane designs of wrought iron over blackened wood, it was clear to me that the door represented a reasoned desire for function over frivolous form. It was also obvious, much to my very immediate horror, that Phina was already opening the door without so much as a warning.

I wanted to kick her _nearly_ as badly as kiss her for doing so. That solved the problem of agonizing over whether to open the door or not.

Even before trying to execute my most recent grand financial plan and resulting brutal defeat that followed, I knew that I would eventually be standing in this exact spot. I might not have known what the door would look like, or how the castle standing around it had been constructed, or even of the woman that owned all of it...but it was impossible to deny that I was destined to stand before it.

After finally being shown some small piece of fate's ridiculously assholish plan for me, I'd been gripped by disquieting anxiety at the thought of finally facing what would be standing on the other side.

It was...not quite what I was expecting.

Before me was a simple, smallish domed room, covered from floor to ceiling with obscure and arcane tracings that threw off the lambent glow of barely contained power at a level that filled me with foreboding terror...like watching a hyperactive five year old running with scissors and a live hand grenade.

Within that room stood also the circle of crystal-encased bodies representing the nearly sum total of every remaining thing I truly loved.

"It appears that wonders simply never cease, my love," Delilah called out as she turned to face me with an enigmatically unreadable expression on her face. "Your escape and arrival here was expected. However...would you care to explain _her_ presence?"

"Her?" I asked, snapped from my confused daze as I looked to Phina before turning back to add, "She's the one that broke me out and lead me here."

"To what end?" Del asked without hesitation.

Somewhere along the way, I'd managed to get pretty good at telling when Del let herself get the tiniest bit angry...and this was certainly one of those times. I wondered with more than a little concern if she knew how cute she looked when it happened.

"He thinks you're adorable when you're angry," Phina suddenly stated, rapidly resurrecting my desire to kick her.

Del's stony expression faltered for the briefest of moments at Phina's comment. I saw the momentary twitch at the corner of her lips that meant she was hiding a smile. It was impossible to ignore the worry over whether it was the smile of a wife overjoyed at her husband's affection...or the smile of that wife about to teach her husband another lesson on humility.

Phina continued. "Oh, and he also thinks I'm here to stop you. Honestly...after the regimen Medea's forced me to undertake, I'm actually sort of curious if I could do it." She then shrugged and crossed her arms to add, "The reason I'm actually here is a secret, but I promise you that I won't interfere. I can appreciate the gravitas of this moment, Delilah. I truly hope that-oh...hells, why now…?"

Hell, why _not_? Nothing really could have put a glossy spit shine on the solemnity of this moment more than a succubus trying to find a corner in a round room into which to vomit up the little that could possibly still be in her stomach.

Delilah turned back to me, apparently convinced of the truth of Phina's claim that she wouldn't interfere, or perhaps about to ask me one of many questions I wouldn't want to answer.

"Joseph, my love..." she began, her use of my unshortened name never a good sign, "...have you copulated with Durand?"

Despite my absolute certainty that, aside from Del and Mira, none of the women in the center of the room could move, the shiver that ran down my spine convinced me that every single one of them was staring claymores at me.

Determined to find something interesting about my feet, I sheepishly replied with more volume than I was intending, "She had me tied down, Del! You can't blame me for-"

Interrupting me expertly enough to make me jump, she demanded, "Did you...enjoy it, my love?"

My mouth fell open as I searched for some combination of words that could provide anything like a correct answer to that question.

Instead of the, likely pitiful, attempt I would have made to go back to the well with the eminently reliable, "It's just sex" argument, I never got the chance as Durand magically appeared in the room wearing nothing more than a smile and what could only be-

"My attendants only ever tell me what they believe I want to hear. I came to observe how this comedy will reach its conclusion and to obtain a second opinion on this...exquisite new perfume," Durand said with a lustful sigh as she drew her fingers across her naked body, tracing her flawless skin with a familiar and thick milky liquid that also continued to slowly drip from her nethers in positively inhuman quantities.

I'd have been proud if I hadn't been so horrified at the thoughts of how Del would respond to the massive visible amounts of my...uh...essence all over Durand.

Seeming to ignore the damning indictment of my earlier activities, however, Del looked over to Durand as her expression changed to one I'd never seen before. It looked almost like barely suppressed...glee?

As she regained a small part of her composure, Del turned back to me, her eyes far too reminiscent of Gasai-tier yandere. "I will not let you enter this circle, my love. Not even Durand would be able to prevent the ritual from unmaking the one cursed with the burden of its cost. Joe...I...need you to trust me."

As she spoke, I could see the necromantic magics that normally held her body together starting to fail. It looked as if entropy itself was tearing at her from within. More than just weak on her feet, her look reminded me of the one I'd seen on Zee less than a handful of hours ago-the look of someone who was at peace with the knowledge that they were about to die.

I had decided the moment my memories returned that I was going to trust Del. Whatever she had planned was completely beyond me, but that simply didn't matter anymore. Nothing could have convinced me that Del was planning anything short of my survival along with the survival of every single one of the women I loved.

There was no other reason she would have waited for me to arrive in this room, right at this time, even with her body falling to pieces before my eyes. It meant that, along with my ignorance, my presence here must have been essential.

Durand suddenly smirked with an unmasked vindictive malice, "I find myself suddenly curious, Delilah, how you would respond if he were...already within the circle."

Before anyone in the room could fully process what she'd said, I felt an unmatched, obliterative pain that was wholly unlike and beyond anything I'd ever experienced or could have ever hoped to imagine as I found myself, my entire reality like a poem on agony, standing within the ritual circle.

Del's eyes fell softly upon me as if to reassure me that everything would be okay despite every nerve in my body loudly and angrily demanding otherwise.

With a nod to the exhausted looking Mira, Del turned to Durand with something not unlike a smile as she said simply, "Let us see."


	39. Chapter 39 - My Apocalypse

Chapter 39 - My Apocalypse

I felt as though forces from every side had grabbed hold of me, trying to tear me apart. Along with that sensation suddenly came the pain of each of my failed attempts to retrieve Lorelei. As each failure played itself out in my mind, furious whispers began to assault me.

The long overdue cost needed to be paid.

Through it all, I could tell that Del was saying something to Durand but I was in too much pain to shift my focus anywhere else. The only thing beyond the all-encompassing torment that reached me was a gentle pressure upon my skull.

As the accusatory whispers mounted toward a crescendo, time began to slow as they pulled into one single unified voice that chanted only one word:

"Choose."

-  
-Through Delilah's Eyes-

It had occurred to Durand and her advisors that allowing me into the Violaceous Regard was dangerous, at best. Despite appearing uncannily similar to Durand in reasoning and temperament, many of the highly placed members within the Regard felt that if I were to learn about Durand's involvement in the fall of Blacksky, I might seek revenge.

Perhaps the strangest part about it was that, had things progressed as I once hoped they might, I might not have cared beyond seeking reparations for the inconvenience it caused my research.

However...as badly as I had once longed to be someone exactly like Durand-someone that could rely on an unfailing sense of logic and order rather than base emotion-such a fate was not meant for me.

Despite her ongoing and earnest attempts stretching over thousands of years to convince me otherwise, until far more recently I had never considered Ish a friend, perhaps because I had never had the chance to learn what that term truly even meant. When she sought my aid in the design of Blacksky, I just assumed that she recognized my talent and wished to make use of me. I accepted on a whim, eager to deepen my understanding of demonic energy and further my progression toward the emotionless state I still saw as perfection.

It still seems logical when I consider it. Without irrational emotion interfering with higher reasoning, an individual would be far more likely to settle upon the most logically correct decision in any situation. For a short time I even believed the folly that I had achieved such a state.

Ahmose saw something different in me.

Once the construction of Blacksky had finished, I had fully intended to leave and continue my studies elsewhere. To this day I cannot know if it was her innate power or something within me that changed my mind, but when Ahmose asked me to remain-to become and bear her Sorrow-I accepted.

I sometimes wonder if it might seem strange to have been so moved by what most would consider a negative emotion, but the moment it touched me like ice creeping across my soul itself, I was enraptured.

No one would blame me for having made every attempt to bury my childhood emotions to insulate myself from the helpless despair that nearly consumed me in those younger years, but Ahmose and perhaps even Ish must have known that they remained within me. It should have been obvious in my foolish efforts to drive my own sister away out of a misguided sense of compassion, knowing that she deserved better than to suffer the broken me.

Ahmose's sorrow changed me in ways I still have not fully grasped. In retrospect, I can conclude only that the dregs of the sorrow that would have otherwise gripped the ruler of a fledgling nation, were as the dead within the soil-a fertilizer that brings forth ever stronger life.

Through that sorrow and the growth it spurred, I was able to appreciate the role of emotion in a decision and that it was only my own weakness and fear that had ever led me to see emotion as an imperfection. Without those feelings, we are little more than adding machines or soulless clockwork.

Even though it was emotion that lead to the second greatest mistake I had ever made in depriving my daughter of those very feelings, I was simply too foolish to understand. I still believed it was my own singular weakness that left me with a need for the tempestuous siren's call of joy, anger, or sadness.

It amuses me, however, to imagine that the simple, _biological_ desire to see one's offspring flourish more than oneself could have lead to such a tragedy.

For too long I let myself believe that the fall of Blacksky was my fault alone. Even after meeting Joe, I was never fully able to shake the feelings of guilt...even after speaking with Ahmose once again.

My mistake was certainly grave, but just as a blacksmith is not guilty of a murder committed with her works, I was finally able to place the the majority of the blame for that calamity where it should have always lain.

That is not to say that I had not held Durand partly responsible for her part in Blacksky's fall, and the long chain of events from that realization is what led me to this ritual chamber today.

Perhaps it was initially to help assuage the overwhelming guilt I felt at the crime of my inaction or perhaps it was simply the vengeful impulses inherited from Ish after having grown so close to her, but I began to put together a plan in my mind of how justice could truly be served upon the guilty. Durand could not be allowed to escape retribution.

I played the part of the emotionless undead well enough to convince Durand to allow me into her service. With her overflowing bounty of arrogance, it may not have even mattered how I appeared to have felt.

Regardless, for the next several thousand years I served her as well or better than even her most trusted advisors while I gathered and researched every available scrap of the knowledge, both mundane and arcane, with which I would construct my vengeance.

After diligent study and refinement of my abilities, I settled upon two possibilities.

The first, related to the ritual Durand was so intent upon getting, would require the investment of untold years of magical research and development to even discover a starting point. Deconstructing the supreme complexity of what may as well have been the secret language of the Lords themselves, however, might well have been a task beyond me. Without actually looking at the ritual, it would also likely be little more than a fruitless waste of resources.

The second possibility, however, was so simple that even a child with the right knowledge could execute it, and would be nearly impossible to circumvent if I brought everything together in the proper way. Much to my ever growing chagrin at the recollection of my past decisions, I failed again to account for the importance of emotion in my planning...but that is another matter entirely.

All the second plan called for was the bestowal of a certain blessing upon an individual that Durand would have cause to call upon.

There could have been no better tool for achieving my vengeance than Joe, a man that believed he had nothing to live for at the outset. Given that he had also somehow absorbed that damnable ritual, who could have blamed me for letting him be the sacrifice he wished to be and also depriving Durand of the thing she'd sought above all others since long before I was even born?

Would things have been different if my original phylactery had not been so damaged in his preservation? I cannot know for certain.

Happily catering to Joe's suicidal nature, our companion Karisa was insane and would have thanked me for the service if I'd simply lead him like a lamb to slaughter. That is, of course, before he had the chance to literally turn her entire world out from the inside.

Like an oblivious tailor that only made gloves with three fingers, I never could have imagined how utterly overwhelming the sensation of "love" would be to me, what it would lead me to do, and what it ultimately would lead me to sacrifice.

So irrational, these emotions…

When I saw him go, lost to the dark for the first time, I knew. I knew it in the core of my being that I could never let that man go. Despite that incontrovertible knowledge, I continued to lie to myself to achieve my own ends, justifying those lies by claiming to myself that they were for a greater justice. It was as though I was living as two, wholly distinct people with aims that were completely at odds.

I told too many lies-to him, to Risa, and to myself. Would Risa forgive me if I asked? Would he?

Pure circumstance presented the opportunity to have Miranda place that cursed blessing upon him. I was the one that lead him to where he would discover its use, however, and I made no attempt to stop his repeated utilization of it even knowing what would happen if my plan were to fail.

If I had stepped in at any moment or made any other choice, all of this could have been avoided. Instead I was petty, jealous, and spiteful. I was jealous of Risa in the knowledge that she could bear his children, that she could catch his eye whenever she wished, and that he would never be mine alone.

How could I have been so blind? Like a candle, his love would not be diminished even were it to light a thousand others.

Even without knowing the full potential cost of his actions, Joe literally gave up his entire life for me, first as a clueless instrument of my revenge and then in the misguided retrieval of my daughter.

The most infuriating part of it is that I know he still would not hesitate to follow the same path again if he believed it was the only way to make me happy. He would have eventually even agreed to live as a succubus if that option had truly been open to him.

My reason screamed at me, "He's just a man! Dozens of men could be had for a handful of polished metal in nearly any major city." And yet...

Even if he truly loved a thousand other women before or alongside me, kept me as a slave, or held nothing for me but disdain, it would not matter. I have never been more helpless before something so comically ephemeral and ridiculous as love.

However foolish it might be, however, there is no feeling that can match that overpowering sensation.

Blacksky's vengeance would have been swift, powerful, and absolute if I'd been able to hold only to logic. Now I am left to pursue an unlikely and illogical venture, hoping that the flimsy modifications to my original plan would still succeed against one of the mightiest sorceresses that has ever walked the earth.

If this ramshackle stratagem succeeds, I will never be so foolish again. If it fails and a sacrifice must be rendered, there is only one sacrifice I will allow. Even if he were to never remember the girl "Delilah" as a result, I will not take his happiness or deny it to the others that love him.

For the opportunity to share my heart with him and to likewise bask in the warm glow of his affections, however, I will not go peacefully into nonexistence.

Another foolish, beautiful, pointless emotion grips me. Statistically...I am doomed to failure. And yet…

...I hope.

Should even that fail, my otherwise cold reason has allowed for a...contingency. Please Lords...let my efforts have counted for something.

-

"Is this not a violation of your contract, Durand?" Del called out as she gripped a small metal object tightly.

Durand shook her head in certainty as she answered, "The cessation of his existence would void any such contract. It is also your ritual that appears to be causing him distress. I must admit...I've never actually seen someone unmade before my own eyes. Can you claim that you aren't curious as well?"

"He has to make that choice," Del countered.

Answering with a self-assured smile, Durand delivered back, "You and I both know that he will. It is in his nature to seek death and to blindly attempt to protect those for whom the biochemical responses in his brain concoct the fantasy of 'love'. He would never choose any of you as a sacrifice. If you seriously consider that he _would_ make any other choice than to let himself be unwritten from existence, then I can harbor nothing beyond disappointment in your reasoning ability."

Looking back to the center of the circle, Del allowed a momentary smile. "I suppose you are right about one thing."

"Only one?"

Del nodded. "I _am_ curious to see an individual unmade before my eyes. I would, if you don't mind, chance a question before this goes beyond the ability of anyone to stop."

"Certainly. I am not opposed to anyone's attempt to learn from their own misguided decisions," Durand answered with the arrogant certainty of a parent lecturing a child.

Holding up the small piece of metal, Del asked, "You know what this is, yes?"

Her eyes going wide at the inexplicable appearance of something she hadn't predicted, Durand quickly began to answer, "Where did you get that?! That's a piece of my-"

Del cut her off with no small amount of her own arrogant aplomb, "Phylactery, yes. There is no need to state the obvious and I am certain that it should not take superior powers of reasoning to determine from where it was obtained." Continuing even as Durand began to raise her hands in an attempt to bring some sort of magic into being, Del added, "But I digress. My question is: Why did you imagine that I let someone like you lay so much as a finger upon my husband in the first place?"

-

"Choose," the chorus of disembodied voices demanded over and over.

As I tried to focus, I saw the faces and heard the names of the women gathered in crystal around me. I also instinctively knew that I could have chosen myself as well.

Feeling the oppressive gravity of the choice in each echoing demand for my decision, I wouldn't risk letting my family try to shoulder that burden for me. Choosing myself was the only answer with which I could be happy...or so I thought. However sad it was to consider that after how much I had changed and how much I now had to live for that I would end up making the choice that would finish the job my suicidal leap had started.

Ready to dismiss the familiar names and faces that whirled through my mind in the growing demand to make my choice, I became very suddenly aware that there was one that simply didn't belong, or at least one that I had never considered would be an option.

Like finding a suitcase full of money for sale in the clearance aisle of a dollar store, I smiled as I made a choice I never would have expected would be possible...with far more conviction than I would have ever dreamed myself capable.

"Durand."

-

"No!" a voice screamed as I returned to my senses within the ritual chamber as veins of light ran between me and every other person in the room.

The entire castle shuddered as a low frequency rumbling began to shake the very air, rising in pitch and intensity to become a shrill whistling of magical energy. Even without being able to sense such things normally, the magic power contained within the room became so thick as to be nearly tangible.

Moving quicker than I would have expected while still looking to be fighting off her "morning" sickness, Phina dashed over and placed a hand upon Wormtongue's crystal prison. In a blinding azure flash, the crystal shattered with a thunderous crack and a shower of the crystallized magic as it too was absorbed into the air.

"What's going on?" I asked to nobody in particular, trying to get a grasp on the situation as I looked around.

Her voice calm but assured as it cut through the din of cascading magical reactions within the room, Medea spoke, "Nothing that fate has not accounted for. Get out of the circle and get down, Joseph. I've never seen a backlash like the one that's coming." Raising her arms to join in the magical equivalent of an orchestra playing three different dissonantly resonating songs at the same time, she held them up for only moment before lowering them with a look of satisfaction. "Complete. Phina, you know what to do."

The succubus stepped forward to protest only to be silenced with a single hand as Medea cut her off. "Do not try to save a finger at the expense of the entire body. Focus only on the tasks I gave you."

Sending _me_ an unexpected look of absolute hatred, Phina then turned her attention back to some other unknowable magical task.

I wasn't out of the circle even a full second before a shock wave hit me like a tsunami, throwing me against the unforgiving stone wall like a discarded rag doll. It was only by the grace of some quick or oft-absent self-preserving thinking that allowed me to shield my head from the impact.

God knows what else broke, however, as pain, my ever faithful companion, came loudly calling.

Looking worse off than I felt after the wave of magical force had passed, Durand howled over the crackling din of magic, "You have the gall to attempt this betrayal in my own castle after all I've given you?!"

Whatever magical strain had been pressing upon Del when I entered the room looked to have vanished as she calmly answered, "Did you imagine I would argue this as an accident? Given what is transpiring, I would think the answer should be obvious. Are you certain _I_ am the one with the poor reasoning faculties?"

"Why?" Durand asked as another wave of force ran across her, taking her skin and her artificial beauty along with it, brutally pinning me back against the wall at the same time.

Del threw her arms wide as if the answer should have been something obvious. "How many of the thirty thousand dead souls of Blacksky asked the same thing as you used my own daughter as a weapon to further your own flawed vision of order?!" She then wrapped her arms around herself, calming as she continued, "I let you touch my husband precisely because it would tie you to him just as everyone else in this room."

Durand struggled as the increasing intensity of the forceful waves of magic ripped her body down to little more than a ragged skeleton.

And yet...within that grotesque rictus of the grave, I saw what could only be a smile as the disintegrating undead called out in a ragged rasping voice, "And you suppose that this will serve as some compensation?"

Her eyes fierce in determination, Del answered, "Among the last resolutions of the old council was a mandate to see justice carried out. What justice would be more poetic than this? Blacksky is a long-faded dream that was survived only by her Wrath and her Sorrow. I hope to watch you choke on both."

"It is most distressing…" Durand answered as her familiarly violet eyes dimmed to pinpoints. Just before those twin points of light looked as though they would vanish, they exploded in a magical fury, glowing even brighter than before. "...that due to your neglect of my teachings on advanced phylactery design, you will scarce understand what is about to transpire."

Having been beaten down by one too many disappointing turns in my life, I'd already begun crawling my way around the room toward Durand, even though it felt like I'd broken all of the most important bones I needed to do so. I needed to do...something. It wasn't clear yet what that might be and the pain made it even harder to focus.

What exactly _was_ I going to do? Piece the non-existent heart of a necromantic construct?

"I could very well have paid this cost outright if I were to use some small measure of what I had stored for the purpose of the ritual your husband brought to me, but I believe you require a lesson." Her voice echoing from within the remains of a skeletal shell, Durand continued, "You were simply never up to the task of understanding...or perhaps this laughable attempt at revenge occupied too much of your time to realize. Even your stupid husband likely realized it. The pointless musical mechanism aside, your 'perfected' phylactery is certainly impressive. After all it is _my_ design. And you used it as a catalyst to tie us all together through this human. I imagine I should have no difficulty paying this magical debt with all of your souls within easy reach."

Del simply stepped away from the raised pedestal upon which she'd been conducting the flow of magic within the room only moments before, stepping toward me with as genuine a smile as I'd ever seen grace those lips.

I could barely even breathe as pain shot through me with every minor movement. Despite that, I fought through the debilitating agony to speak, "Del...what are you doing?"

Lying down next to me on the floor, Del pulled herself close to me. "Imagine my surprise, my love, when I found you trying from a financial angle what I was planning to attempt magically. Should I be pleased that both our attempts ended the same way?"

"Del...there has to be a way out of this, right?" I pleaded, already convinced of the negative answer I expected to hear.

To my surprise, Del looked thoughtful a moment as though she was considering my question. "There is one...but we are out of time. Promise me you will look after Lorelei."

I nodded, "I promised I would a long time ago. That's what got us into this mess...I guess. Just give me something to-"

Interrupting me as she pulled a small music box from the void, Del smiled as she entwined her fingers within mine against the carved wood of her phylactery. The wood and metal music box grew warmer between us, its soft glow not even strong enough to shine through the skin of our clasped fingers as it rang out that familiar sad tune. "You would forget, my love. You will forget...and the fault is mine."

With a nearly perfect memory, I had long cursed that every agonizingly painful episode of my life remained with me in haunting crystal clarity that seemed only to sharpen with time. Could this magic truly strip memories from me? Magic had already tried and failed to fully bury the past impressions of my abnormal mind.

Even the certainty that I could only know what I knew and that if this truly could erase my memories, there would be no pain...that thought cut me more deeply than any of my unforgettable, hateful memories could have ever hoped to.

Del, the woman in my arms for whom I would have sacrificed anything-just as I would have for most of the women in this room-was going to cease to be...and even grief over her loss would be kept from me. Risa, Aurielle, Arianwyn, Meryl...all of them were going to be taken from me...and all I'd have left was the memory of the other love of my life, Zee, choosing to die to spare me the guilt of being too weak to save her.

There was nothing I could say or do in that moment that felt right. I'd been left, as I always truly had been, helpless. I wanted to scream at the mounting failures of my weakness...but after everything I'd been through, there wasn't anything left in me to do more than to hold as tight to this moment as possible.

"Just let me hold you...one last time," Del whispered as the intensifying magical pulses within the room began rising again. Placing her head upon my heart where it had always belonged, she looked up at me with those radiant violet eyes that had always been full of so much sadness, now reflecting an almost blissful surrender as she spoke, "Joe?"

"Yes, Del?"

"If it would have been possible to simply give up everything to live happily with you, I would not have hesitated. Was it all my own wrath that caused this? Was I wrong?"

My voice broken and stuttering with the effort it took to utter the words, I answered in the only way I could, "If you made your choices because your heart demanded them, then you weren't wrong, Del. Damn it...I wish I had something less stupidly cheesy to say..."

I then took a deep breath and delivered my next words with a conviction born of the weight of my entire being, "If I lose you...I need you to know that somehow...some way, I will find a way to remember. My memory has always been a curse and I'll be damned if I'll let the one time it could truly be a blessing slip through my fingers."

I truly wanted to believe what I was saying, but if I was wrong...how would I ever even know?

Craning her neck up slightly, Del pulled herself close and kissed me. The incomparable sensation of her slightly chilled lips touching mine finally broke all of my remaining resolve. I'd have sold my battered and broken soul in that moment to stop fate's killing stroke.

Her eyes staring deep into mine, she nodded as her soft body nestled closer to me. "I do not know what awaits me, my love...but I believe you. I will wait. But even if you never remember...none of us would ever forget."

Whatever confused and pointless response I might have offered would never come as a thunderous crack echoed through the room as each of the nearby crystals began to rupture under the strain of the magical pressure.

I reflexively tightened my arms around Del praying that I could at least protect one thing from this storm.

Placing her forehead to mine as blinding blue light began spin in an all-consuming vortex out from the the middle of the room, I watched Del mouth three words before her body was torn from my arms.

As my senses were being overcome by the growing maelstrom of power, I heard the gentle tones of the music box one last time before they too vanished into the static.

I looked helplessly at the blinding center of the room to see Phina locked in a silent scream of unmatched exertion as Medea turned toward me with an enigmatic, knowing smile, her body becoming once again encased in crystal as she did so.

Wasn't there something she'd told me to remember?

There could be no thoughts, however, in the unbridled devastation of the magical hurricane that tore through the room. The pain, from skin to bones to soul, was more than I could handle as a final painful snap drove me under, the merciless blackness of unconsciousness rushing in to claim me.

-  
-Some Time Later-

When I awoke, I found myself in a cell. The construction didn't appear familiar so I reasoned that I had somehow been moved from Durand's castle.

So then where was I? I was still armed and armored with all of my previous possessions, including, thankfully, the things Zee had given me before she'd fallen.

Under the ministrations of time or magic, I also found that my wounds had also been completely healed. I dreaded the former when I considered what was at stake. But...no. Something else must have happened. And this time, jail cell or no...whatever had transpired was nothing short of miraculous.

Durand had explained it-a backlash of that size would unmake whoever paid the cost. Whatever Medea's apprentice, Phina, had done must have averted that disaster, I reasoned, as I went over in my mind the people that I had definitely _not_ forgotten.

Going down the entire list in my head, I remembered Mira and...uh...her sister(?) Miranda, Medea and Phina, Meryl, Risa and my twin girls, Aurielle and Arianwyn.

However impossible it seemed, I'd made it out alive...and with the memories of everyone that would have been unmade if Durand had truly been able to force the cost of that tainted blessing upon them.

Had Medea actually made good on her strange promise to avert the cruel hands of fate?

No...just because I could remember them didn't mean they were safe or even that they were alive. But this was still...something.

Surrounded by this prison of steel and stone, it would have been easy to assume the worst. But whoever held me here had a vested interest in my survival. If it truly was nothing more than the passage of time that saw me healed, the fact that I wasn't starving or covered in my own shit meant that I'd definitely been cared for...one way or another.

Would I take that opportunity to roll back over and resign myself?

No, Zee must have been right when she called me a survivor. The stakes or circumstances didn't matter anymore. My family was out there and, dead or alive, I was taking them home with me.

I don't know what I would have done if I'd found myself with the despair of knowing that I'd truly forgotten someone, but we'd all somehow come through it. If that was the best this so-called "fate" had been able to muster for its assault upon me, I didn't have any more reason to be afraid.

For the first time in a long time...I actually saw the true sun of hope breaking through the grey. The end of my journey, whether in the mountains pressed against the sky, beneath the waves, or buried in the bowels of the earth, was within sight. And even if my own resolve still hadn't been up to the task, there were a lot of people waiting for me.

It simply wouldn't do to disappoint them.

-

-Epilogue-

"No, just shut up. I don't care! I did what you asked-I'm done, Medea!" Phina nearly shouted over the mental link with her sorcerous master.

"You're done when I say you're done, and if you take that tone with me again, I can promise you that taking back what I gave you is the least creative punishment I can imagine for you," Medea answered back in a harshly berating tone. "I won't even mention that you objectively _failed_ half of the tasks I gave you."

"Except you just did, you spiteful bitch," Phina thought to herself, nearly loud enough for the thoughts to cross the mental link.

Continuing her lecture, Medea continued, "Blame the eclipse if you wish, but not only are we still within Durand's castle, but she's not far from stumbling upon the realization that our souls could replace the vast amount of energy she lost from that magical backlash."

Her psychic impression across the link relating exasperation and still growing anger, Phina answered, "I know what you're going to ask me to do and I just...can't do it. Because of you, I now hate that man more than I'll ever be able to express. I'll also have a baby girl to think about soon. I just-"

Overpowering Phina's mental voice, Medea continued undeterred, "I am not often willing to be patient, but I will allow for some...consideration. Take the time to have the child and find a suitable caretaker. This is not otherwise up for negotiation. I do not wish to even say this, but you know what I can do if you refuse."

Her anger near to boiling over at the sheer frustration of dealing with Medea, Phina still couldn't risk her wrath. "Fine, you fucking miserable snake. What should I-"

Chiming back in with a measure of cheer that only angered Phina more, Medea interrupted again, "Splendid. I knew I could count on you. Now, Durand wasn't prepared for Azalea's assault with most of her forces dispatched on some mildly amusing errand for the good Lady Victoria of Alnor, but that won't happen again. I'd recommend bringing an army."

"Oh, of course you would. And what's better, I doubt you have even any inkling of how to gather one," Phina called back in resignation.

"On the contrary," Medea began with a hissing whisper of malicious excitement in her voice, "There are a great many people that have good reason to hate Durand and still others that would answer Joseph's call, were he to make it. I left a partial list of the former encoded within the study materials I gave you. You should have plenty of time to decode it while you're convalescing after the glorious act of bringing a life into this world, and you're a bright girl. I'm certain you'll be able to manage it. Just one warning...there is one among them that could just as easily become an enemy as an ally. If you can break the seal upon her and gain her assistance, however…"

"Yeah, I'll leave _that_ to this fucking man everyone seems to love so _much_ and his 'magic wand' to do the convincing," Phina answered in disgust.

Medea seemed to smile as she finished, "I would advise another route with that one, but I leave it to your judgement and his, Phina. Be sure to take plenty of notes."

Phina had begun to take hold of a deep and powerful understanding of how Medea had earned her nickname.

"Have I told you that I hate you?" Phina asked.

"Don't fail," was Medea's only reply.

"I won't."


End file.
